The End is Nothing But the Beginning
by Polyphoenix
Summary: Shepard succeeded. The Reapers were destroyed and the extermination of every life in the galaxy was averted.  Or did he?  Post Ending Fic utilizing the Indoctrination Theory.  Picks up where we see Shepard's chest moving in the rubble.  M Shep/Ashley
1. Chapter 1

_By now there's obviously a lot of outrage at the ending to Mass Effect 3. I'm not outraged, merely disappointed. The game was unbelievable. The scope, emotion, desperation..._

_And so I turn here to see what other people can come up with instead. If you haven't looked at the Indoctrination Theory, go check it out somewhere. There's rather convincing evidence that the entire current ending could be interpreted as Shepard fighting off the Reaper's indoctrination. Fascinating stuff. Since it makes complete and utter sense to me, I'm running with that. This is (hopefully) an ending that could actually fit alongside what's already been given to us. One that possesses the scale, heroic moments, and heightened finale a lot of us desired (in addition to less plot holes and poor writing). This immediately follows the infamous scene of Shepard taking a breath in the rubble following the "Red" ending._

_Please take a moment to review. It only takes a second and really lets us know what you think. I never cease to get excited when I see an alert in my email. It truly is great motivation._

_There will be cursing and action, but nothing that merits more than a 'T' rating. You have been warned.  
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_A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to the Mass Effect Universe. I'm just here playing in their sandbox._

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><p>Blackness.<p>

The Reapers were gone, the mass relays demolished. Hell, even the Geth and every other synthetic life-form in the galaxy had been expunged in the blink of an eye and now, here in the end, there was just...nothingness. Simply no sensation, no body his consciousness felt attached to, just empty, black space. The Crucible was fired, the extermination of every living, organic being by the monstrous living machines averted. Narrowly.

And at the end of it all, Commander John Shepard was dead.

He had no regrets. There was no looking back and wondering about other solutions, other variables, what could have been. In the end there could really only ever be one way. Them or the Reapers. That it had required his life to achieve was inconsequential. They'd won. It was done.

Of course, he hoped the loss of the relays could be overcome. The loss of their primary method of interstellar transportation was sure to cause massive problems. He still liked to think that the destruction of the Citadel and everything the galaxy had known up till now wouldn't lead to more war and needless bloodshed. He'd sacrificed everything for them all, banked that old conflicts, petty squabbles, and perceived injustices would be overcome...and could stay that way. The Krogan and the Salarians, the Quarians and the Geth, hell even the remnants of the Batarian empire all united shoulder to shoulder and facing the storm together.

But for Shepard it personally meant his life lost, a burgeoning love unrequited, and...his friends...

Well, those other races had damn well better do something worthwhile with the second chance he'd helped give them.

"...epard..."

He froze. That voice. Ash? Was it even possible that she was here somewhere too? Before making it to the Citadel they'd been together, getting split up in that last mad dash. He'd assumed she'd perished in the blast, an occurrence that he'd still yet to mourn.

And how could he hear her when he couldn't even feel his body here in this...well...afterlife?

It wasn't much as far as heaven went. Not what Shepard had expected despite the fact he'd never really been one to think about those types of things. It wasn't necessarily a great place to spend eternity, but at least there was some kind of peace. It was a sensation he hadn't known since before Eden Prime. Since before he learned of the existence of Reapers.

But...Ashley?

Shepard was fighting his thoughts now. They were working against one another, muddying together while simultaneously trying to provide him a sense of bliss and attempting to make him forget his affection for the Lieutenant Commander. All at once they were trying to convince him he was dead while some distant part wanted nothing more than to rebel to attempt and find Ashley. Whispers in his consciousness, gripping his thoughts. But he'd heard her, really heard her. It wasn't a figment of his imagination or wishful thinking. That had _been _her. And she'd been distressed, her voice yelling to him rather than lovingly calling out. So why couldn't he control himself? Why couldn't he control his own thoughts? If he wasn't dead then what...

Indoctrination.

The thought sent a chill stabbing down a spine that until a second ago he hadn't even been able to feel. It was eerily similar to what the poor Cerberus engineers on the defunct Reaper had described. Shepard wasn't dead at all and this wasn't heaven, purgatory, or some kind of dark oblivion at the other end of his life. He was battling for his mind with the very creatures he was trying to destroy. With that thought come a flash of focus. He threw everything else at the very idea of Ash. At his mission. At the survival of humanity and the galaxy as a whole. pouring every last ounce of his concentration into it. Shepard willed himself to bat away the whispers in his mind, the tendrils pulling at his thoughts, hacking at them as though they were vines clawing for him.

An inhuman roar shattered the peace of the darkness, an angry, mechanical sound that seemed to reverberate through his skull, ripping through his mind with a flashing, brilliant pain. As soon as it began it faded away, leaving just the peaceful blackness again. Except this time there was something else. Something growing.

Pain.

There was suddenly pain everywhere, a wave of it that swept over his consciousness. Shepard was suddenly very aware of returning sensations. A burning in his legs along with a strong, stifling pressure. A strong ache in his lower back. And everywhere a faint soreness that echoed his bruised psyche.

Shepard had never been so happy to feel something so awful.

His chest heaved as his lungs gulped in great quantities of air, the sensation on his damaged body and lungs burning every inch of the way. He hacked roughly in reaction, dust and smoke clogging his airways and senses. Grime encrusted eyes fought to open and focus, everything around him coming across as nothing more than a blur of dull, neutral colors.

There was a shifting of weight as he fought to push himself up off his chest, pieces of rubble and gravel sliding off him as his straining muscles worked, gradually answering their master's commands. His movements were disjointed though, his appendages barely answering his still addled mind. Putting a free hand to his head he tried to shake away the disorientation, trying to figure out where he was and what the hell was going on.

"Shepard! Come on!" His head snapped up, focus streaming in. Ash. She was on the ground too, not too far away to his right across a debris strewn, destroyed city street. Her armor was damaged in several places, cracks and discolorations spread over it and marring its normally clean surface. Her beautiful face was set in grim determination, dust and dirt smudged over her cheeks and forehead as a small bead of blood dribbled down from the corner of her mouth. She was crouched behind a small rise of rubble and bodies, her left arm cradled delicately in her lap as she fired her Avenger one handed over the top of her cover.

"Come on, Skipper," Ash yelled again. "Wake up! I can't hold this position."

He struggled again, pushing himself further up to look over the the debris he was partially buried beneath, his fingers sliding in the loose gravel. There were bodies everywhere, strewn across what was once a peaceful European street. It was all but unrecognizable as that now, Marines mixed with husks and cannibals lay over one another, some in pieces. Here and there he could even glimpse a Marauder or higher tier enemy combatant laying still.

But there was also a familiar unearthly moan. Forces were still charging them. From the looks of it, scrambling over the piles of rubble it was husks mostly, the horrifying cybernetically repurposed remains of humans. Another one fell to Ash's fire, but they came streaming on. If they reached the two of them it was over. A fact that seemed inevitable given their numbers.

"Status," he coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood, dirt, and saliva. At the same time he began pushing more pieces of building off himself, scrambling to retrieve his discarded Vindicator. A fresh heat sink slapped into place and Shepard began sighting down at the nearest target to Ashley.

"Thank god!" she breathed, risking a glance in his directions. "Vega's down. Took on the last wave by himself before I was able to get back in the fight. No idea if he's still breathing, but I can't get to him. I...I don't think any of the Marines made it. Harbinger hit us hard."

It hit him all at once. They were still in London, his forces blasted and obliterated by the cannons of the massive Reaper as they made a last, desperate charge for the Conduit. Anderson, the Illusive Man, the holographic child...all of it...a dream? Some kind of hallucination during his unconsciousness? A product of indoctrination? Some way to enable control over him? He shook the questions off as another wave of husks came streaming up the choked street at them.

Shepard braced himself, firing up his nodes and engulfing himself in biotic energy. A simple gesture and it was unleashed, sending a massive shockwave careening through a tightly packed group of the zombies charging up the incline. For everyone though that they managed to obliterate though two more seemed to take their place.

Another shockwave went pounding down the street, sending body parts and debris flying, but still they kept coming, a squad of Cannibals now bringing up their rear and sending sporadic fire at the two holdouts.

He slapped another heat sink into the smoking assault rifle and looked again at the odds. "Ash," he called, looking over at her, "I...I don't..."

A bellow split the air. A deep, giant, grating sound that seemed to rend the air itself. Mechanical in nature it could mean only one thing.

The massive Reaper that had been slowly striding away, heading towards the Alliance's flank began turning around, coming back to bear on Shepard and his team.

"Shit!" Williams yelled. "He's coming back around!" There wasn't any panic in her voice, just simple determination. She kept firing, awkwardly putting a deadly stream of projectiles downrange as her useless arm hung limply at her side. "Options?"

"No way we're getting to the Conduit," He glanced again at the giant black machine as it continued its slow turn in place, firing again at the horde approaching them, "or away from Harbinger. They've got us pinned."

The Lieutenant Commander nodded soberly in agreement. Her jaw set as she said, "Then I say we take as many of them with us as we can!"

He sent another shockwave ripping through a group of assembled enemies, their body parts practically flying apart as the energy shredded through their ranks. Three others went down in a hail of rifle fire from Williams' position.

This was not the end he'd hoped for. The weapon unfired, the Reapers winning, the galaxy finished. They'd given it all they could and in the end, that simply wasn't enough.

"Ash," he started, glancing back over at her while maintaining his fire down field, "I'm sorry. We never had the chance to...I always wanted the chance, for you and me. I'm just sorry...we'll never have our time."

She looked back at him for the first time since he'd regained consciousness, her eyes still shining brightly despite the situation and the grime caked on her face. "I know," she said softly. "Me too."

The mechanical roar split the air again, making them both duck instinctively as the air began charging, a portion of the Reaper's shell pulling back to reveal one of its massive cannons. Sound itself seemed to disappear as electricity arced, gathering at the weapon's point of origin. It would be over in seconds. At least this way he didn't have to face the frantically clawing hands of the husks.

He flinched instinctively again when it did fire, holding up a forearm as though that would do some kind of good against the unyielding power of the beam weapon.

And then nothing. A beat. Then another. Shepard's eyes opened to find a world bathed in a deep red hue, but crackling in blue energy as the Reaper's weapon washed over their position. He was still breathing, the ground around him still very much intact.

"Rodriguez, no holding back! Everything you got! Pour it on!"

That voice.

A familiar slim figure stepped up next to him, her body tensed and her arms outstretched. The small woman's entire form was bathed in more biotic energy than Shepard had ever seen from one individual before. So much so that they nearly obscured the tattoos.

Jack.

"Fuck! Shepard, if you've got any bright ideas I'm ready to listen. This barrier ain't gonna last forever!"

Shepard blinked. "Jack?"

"Yeah," she smirked despite the effort she and the cadre of young adults with her were undergoing turning back the Reaper's weapon. "Ever imagine this? Me saving your ass. Say hello to the Biotic Support Group of the 103rd Marine Division." Her corona pulsed, energy crackling over her exposed skin. "So, you gonna help us out already or what?"

"Allow me."

The field brightened, its perimeter shimmering with additional power as another elegant figure strode forward, one arm held high as an enveloping sheath of energy flashed into place, nearly matching the ex-convict's for brilliance. The Asari's rich, ceremonial armor was scratched, but the bright crimson red was unmistakable.

He shifted to look over at Ash. Tali was there, kneeling next to her friend, splitting her attention between her omni-tool as she waved it over the human's arm and firing her pistol one handed at the scattered remnants of the last wave of husks. EDI was standing over them both, a Paladin pistol in one hand as she scanned the battlefield dutifully, watching over the Lieutenant Commander and Quarian Engineer. Williams looked up, her eyes meeting his for the briefest moment. He saw...shock. The same stunned expression that he probably shared. There was also something else.

Hope.

A sharp crack to his left made him jump, a spent heat sink dropping hissing to the ground beside him as another was chambered in the lowered Mantis.

"Jesus, Shepard...you look like hell. And I thought _my _face looked bad." Shepard just stared at the grinning Turian, watching the mandibles click together in a Turian expression of humor. The alien's eyes snapped back up to look around once he had the human's attention though. "Thought you could use some help. Turns out...you've got a lot of friends."

A squad of Krogan marched past toward the leading edge of the still brilliant barrier, rock and bodies crunching beneath their clawed feet and heavy armor. They were led by a large, scarred battlemaster sporting distinctive red armor. The ever impatient Grunt followed closely behind his clan leader.

"Where..."

The grinning Turian shrugged. "Most of them figured going on a suicide mission with you had better odds for survivability than pretty much any other alternative." Grunt and another Krogan roared in unison, ripping a pair of charging husks in half with their bare hands. Garrus shook his head. "I think the Krogan just thought this would be a whole lot of fun though."

He reached down, his clawed hands gently grasping Shepard's arm as he helped him up. There was a brief shooting pain through his left leg, but otherwise the pain had receded to tolerable levels. He probably had Cerberus' improvements to thank for that. The Spectre brushed some of the dirt off his charred armor with his free hand, letting his legs steady themselves under him before moving further. "Anderson's reinforcing our flank," Garrus explained. "He's got Miranda and Jacob helping him coordinate a defense to draw some of these units off us." The Turian glanced warily at the red energy sporadically washing over their protective bubble. "We're gonna need to figure out a way to get past Harbinger."

"I may have a suggestion." The metallic figure EDI had commandeered strode up. It was scratched and scuffed, but looked remarkably intact and clean when contrasted with the dirty, broken environment they were fighting in. "The Normandy is already en-route."

Garrus stared at her a moment before he shook his head emphatically. "No way the Normandy can take on Harbinger by itself. Hell, it took an entire fleet to take out Sovereign and luck was _still _involved. I'm sorry, but that's not going to work. Its shields are just too strong. Even Thanix missiles aren't going to crack that."

Shepard started working his way back to Ashley. By now she'd been helped up by her Quarian friend and was sitting on a pile of rock, trying to stretch her previously useless left arm. For the first time since he'd awoken Shepard felt like smiling. Garrus and EDI followed close behind, the Turian still expressing the utter lunacy of pitting the small frigate against the living machine.

"Because the Sovereign class Reapers do not share the same weakness as the smaller Destroyer classes a new method will have to be attempted. The Reapers have a potential weakness to massive amounts of dark energy. Initial analysis of their shielding systems suggest that they _can _be overloaded by a large enough quantity."

"I hate to ask," Garrus said, "but exactly where do we find a big enough supply of dark energy to make this plan work? And let's not forget the fact that we have no way of delivering it since we're under bombardment at the moment." The already stiff, plated alien visibly straightened. "Wait, why did you mention the Normandy before if you were never...?"

A dawning, horrifying thought struck Shepard. He froze and closed his eyes, turning back to his two colleagues. "The Tantalus Drive."

Garrus stared at him before looking back at EDI, his mouth hanging open in an almost human expression of shock. "You're serious?"

"If you are inquiring if this is a joke, it is not. The drive core should possess the necessary properties to disable the Reaper. At least in theory."

This time both Shepard and Garrus stared open mouthed at her. "In theory?" Garrus finally managed.

"At this point I believe that is the best option we have."

Shepard blinked, trying to somehow wrap his mind around the plan. Even for him it just sounded...suicidal. Detonating a core the size of the Normandy's? In atmosphere and at ground level? Not to mention in fairly close proximity to his entire team?

The red aura returned, churning over the biotic bubble the assembled team had created and were keeping in place against it.

"What about you?" he finally said. "EDI you're a part of the Normandy. We're going to need your expertise if we manage to get to the Crucible. You'll be destroyed with the ship."

"I am in the process of downloading as much data and runtimes as possible to this mobile platform. I predict all vital programs, memory, and core functions to be complete in one minute, ten seconds. This unit will be autonomous at that time."

Shepard sighed. Leave it to an AI to have all her bases covered. "And Joker and the crew?" He was already expecting her answer.

"They have already been evacuated to other Alliance vessels."

John took a deep breath and glanced at the collection of biotics working diligently on their defense. Two of Jack's former students were now on their knees, dripping with sweat and shaking. One had blood dripping from their nostril. The visual was clear. The barrier wouldn't last forever. Possibly only minutes.

He nodded to EDI before turning to the biotics. "Jack...Samara, can you give me another two minutes?"

"We got a fucking choice?" Jack spat back. The Asari simply nodded.

"We've got help coming. I only need a little more time."

Both were already back absorbed in their task, the ex-convict occasionally shouting out gruff encouragement to her pupils while Samara stood serenely to the side, never wavering.

Shepard continued back on his original course to Williams, coming up to her just as Tali finished gingerly waving her omni-tool over the shoulder joint one last time.

"The Lieutenant Commander ready to go?"

"I'd really prefer it if someone who actually knew human physiology could take a look at her. There's only so much I'm capable of. Especially when it's one of your kind."

"I'm sure you did fine, Tali. What's the verdict?"

The faceless female tapped something into the holographic display and looked back up at him. "Vega didn't make it," she said sadly, gesturing to the motionless body she'd managed to extricate from beneath a pile of husk corpses.

"He went down fighting," Williams whispered. "He saved us both, bought us time."

The Quarian nodded. "Ash's shoulder was dislocated and has been set. There's a break in the lower part of her left arm, I believe it's termed the ulna. Then a fracture to the femur. Otherwise just contusions and cuts. No evidence of internal or cranial injuries. But there's no way she can go on. We need to get her out of here and..."

"The hell with that..." Williams began straightening, trying to stand up, her eyes flashing in defiance.

Gently Shepard blocked her path, holding up his hand and helping her sit back down. She was hiding a good deal of pain, keeping her face carefully schooled, but Shepard knew the hallmarks. The way she was favoring one leg over the other ever so slightly. They way her jaw flexed.

"Tali," he said, turning to the fidgeting Quarian, "you two are heading back to command when we make our next move. Make sure Anderson knows we're still out here and moving forward. We'll need his support."

He turned to the other woman. She'd managed to wipe away quite a bit of the dust and dirt from her face, displaying the natural, unconscious beauty that had always so appealed to him. Real women didn't need to cake on makeup to look gorgeous. Even the sweat matted hair and streaks across her forehead just seemed to make her more appealing.

Ash tried to move the shoulder around, stretching it back and forth. She tried to hide the wince when her arm reached about shoulder height, but she eventually lowered it down again to her side.

"And you're going with her," he said. Before she could protest he held up a hand. "That's an order. You know what a potential liability it could be having an unfit soldier with us. I need everyone going full speed. Tell me I'm wrong." Her jaw tightened, but she didn't deny his assessment.

Shepard glanced at Tali and gave her a look, hoping she'd learned enough of human expressions over the years to understand his meaning. The Quarian gave him a small nod and moved away, heading to where Garrus and EDI were still discussing the ramifications of detonating one of the largest eezo cores ever created in the planet's atmosphere.

He knelt in front of her, dipping his head and resting his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes at the contact. "Do this for me, Ash. Please? Get out of here. You and Tali, go. I need for you to be okay. I've watched too many friends die while I walk out of the fire untouched. Kaidan and Mordin and Thane and all the rest...I just...I can't add you to that list. I actually need someone to make it through this time. I need that to be you."

Ash's voice was tiny when she finally spoke. "I've had to live with you dying once already." Her entire body shuddered the tiniest bit against him. "Please don't make me do that again. I don't know if I can handle it. I'm not that strong."

"Ash..."

She shook her head the tiniest bit, her forehead rubbing gently against his. "Goddammit. I know you can't make promises. I know you have no idea what comes next. I don't even know what I'm asking..."

Shepard moved his head so he could press his lips against her forehead, letting himself linger for the briefest of moments before moving back down to look into Ashley's eyes. "Listen to me. I've got every intention of coming out of this in one piece. Alright? But you can't come with me. Not this time. Just...go. For me."

There was the clearing of a throat behind them, revealing a rather uncomfortable looking Garrus refusing to meet the Commander's eyes. "Shepard, we need to get moving. EDI's ready." Looking back down at Ashley Shepard nodded, starting to straighten back up.

With her good hand she grabbed the lip of the armor at his collar, dragging him back down to her where she slammed her lips into his, pouring all her pain and desperation into one final kiss. When they were forced to come up for air she held on, meeting his eyes with determined, shining eyes. "Promise me you're coming back," she said low. Shepard started to say something, but she pressed on, interrupting whatever it was he was about to say. "Even if you don't know, just promise me. Just say it. For me."

The two stared at each other for a moment, neither willing to break the other's gaze. "Promise," he finally said.

She glanced up at Garrus over the Commander's shoulder her eyes hard. "You two have anything resembling a plan?"

"EDI's gonna see if the Tantalus Drive can help us out of our little jam," the Turian said.

"She's going to do _what_? And you're letting her?" Tali's voice wasn't quite a shriek, but it had definitely risen a few octaves in response to the tentative plan and her glowing eyes were wide beneath her visor. Quarians were well known to develop generally deep connections with their ships. It made sense considering their dependence on them over the past several hundred years. Shepard couldn't help but hope that would become a thing of the past.

He put his hand on her shoulder as she almost shrunk in on herself. "Trust me, it's the only way. This wasn't any easier for me."

"And I _just _got her working at peak efficiency," she grumbled. "Seriously Shepard, I think you enjoy toying with my emotions."

"How do you think I feel?" Garrus chimed in, crossing his arms. The sarcasm in his voice was obvious though to everyone. "It took me weeks to get those damn cannons calibrated just right."

Shepard smiled and was just about to make a joke of his own when EDI's voice came through over his earpiece. "Commander, I would strongly advise everyone to seek shelter. Projections from the resulting blast are...difficult to predict."

"EDI, what about the biotics?" Ashley suddenly said, looking up at all three of them from her seated position.

"The Normandy will attempt to distract the Reaper to afford them time to reach cover."

"Okay..." Garrus started, "...how?"

"I will fire the main gun at it."

The small group assembled all stood or sat silently. Tali fiddled nervously with her fingers and looked back and forth between Garrus and Shepard.

Garrus managed to be the first one to break the silence and speak. "So...let me get this straight. You're going to fire the Thanix at it...with us...where we are?"

"Correct."

He groaned. "Oh, this plan just keeps getting better and better." He threw a bewildered look at the Commander but punctuated it with a smile. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"The biotic barrier should protect you from any collateral damage."

"What about the Krogan?" Ashley asked, pointing to where they were still gleefully tearing apart anything that had the audacity to move within the radius of the barrier sphere the biotics were producing. There was even a mangled Brute lying amongst the various bodies now.

Garrus' mandibles clicked thoughtfully. "Not sure they know what the term 'cover' means."

Shepard pushed his second in command towards them. "Just get over there and tell them to get behind something, will you. I doubt even their redundant systems are going to be able to handle this. I'll inform Jack and Samara."

"Right," he nodded and jogged off.

Shepard tapped his comm, signaling both of the biotic warriors. "Alright you two, we're gonna try something here. As soon as the next bombardment stops I want you all running for cover. Get down and stay down. There's going to be a really big boom."

He didn't wait for confirmation. The barrier wavered the slightest bit, the constant reddish hue of the light around them intensifying as they began to be overwhelmed by another steady stream of the Reaper's main weapon. He turned and nodded at Ash and Tali, prompting them both to flatten themselves against piles of debris. The Quarian even seemed as though she was trying to dig herself a little deeper. Being an engineer she probably had as good an idea as anyone what to expect. Her actions were less than reassuring. "EDI, we're set," he said anyway. "Fire away."

"Acknowledged. Powering Thanix Cannon...initiating start-up sequence...targeting Sovereign class Reaper designated Harbinger...firing."

As he ducked, pulling himself next to Ashley and wrapping his arms around her he had a glimpse of a streak of blue-white energy streaking in from above. He felt more than saw the impact, heat and noise washing over them all, sucking the air out of their lungs as a massive pressure wave rocketed through the destroyed city. Shepard gripped Ashley, holding on with his eyes closed against the choking dust and heat.

Harbinger roared in that ear splitting, mangled, grating way the Reapers could, more angry at the annoyance of the gnat-like frigate than because of any serious damage or injury.

But, he turned to face the newest threat.

Shepard looked over top of his shelter long enough to see Jack and her students scrambling for the burnt and mangled hulk of an Alliance tank with Samara behind them, supporting one of the exhausted youngsters. They dove behind the destroyed vehicle right as the Normandy streaked into view, twisting slightly to avoid a blast from the machine before slamming full speed into it amidships.

Then everything disappeared in a flash of white.

It was the opposite of the blackness that had taken him before. Gone was the peace and the tranquility, the sense of being out of body or free. Now there was just pain, and noise, and nerves screaming as they were assaulted from every angle. He anchored himself to Ashley, alternately trying to protect her and cling to her so as to have something real within his grasp. The assault on his senses continued, the noise increasing and joined by a shrill new howl while rocks and debris kicked up from the surrounding city rained down on them, the force of the blast large enough to toss chunks of pavement and building around weighing several hundred pounds. One basketball sized chunk glanced off Shepard's armored shoulder guard in the swirl of chaos, sending yet another stab of pain shooting through his already pain wracked body. He grit his teeth harder, holding on for dear life to the only thing that he could tell was unequivocally real.

Ashley.

As if sensing the same thing, she too gripped his arms tighter, pulling herself in closer.

It was probably no more than a flash. A quick occurrence that assaulted the senses, but it seemed to stretch for long, daunting minutes. Slowly, the light faded and the shrieking winds died down. The sound of rending metal and colliding, breaking rubble returning to their previous levels. Following the battles and creepy noises they'd grown accustomed to the silence seemed almost eerie.

Shepard raised his head to look over what cover still remained. His face fell immediately. Hope was quashed. Through the choking dust still hanging in the air the silhouette of Harbinger was still clearly visible. Worse, it was moving, still standing tall above them and turning slowly, inexorably back to face his small squad.

But there was something wrong about the scene too. Something that hadn't been there before. It wasn't the noise of the Reaper's distinctive bellowing anymore that was audible over the returning sounds of furious combat taking place all throughout the city. It was a metal on metal screech, like stressed alloys groaning and shifting under extreme stress. Like the earlier screeches though, this too was emanating from the towering death bringer.

Armor plates rubbing, buckling, and failing. The damn thing's shields were down.

Shepard was running, leaping and sliding over the various bits of detritus in his way. He needed Garrus or EDI. Either one would have the necessary equipment. His own long range comm hadn't seemed to cycle back since he awoke from fighting off the indoctrination attempt earlier. He should have thought about that earlier. He should have known he'd need to talk to those in the outside world eventually, coordinate with those possessing the firepower. In less than a minute he'd have Harbinger's weapons turned again on his position. They needed artillery support and they needed it now.

Garrus was flat on his back, his eyes blinking rapidly as he slowly lifted his head, shaking it slightly as though he were just waking up. The shelter he'd dove behind was almost nonexistent, carried away in the violence of the Normandy's detonation and he'd borne the brunt of the resulting force.

The human didn't waste time checking on his friend, ripping the module off the Turian's armor and replacing his own with it. His omni-tool lit up instantly confirming a good connection.

"This is Commander Shepard, broadcasting in the clear. Does anyone copy? Hammer or Sword command do you read?"

Static was all that greeted his ears, punctuated occasionally by a fleeting portion of alarmed commands or communication bouncing between the ships in the space high above the decimated planet.

"...epard, what the hell...going on down there? We haven't...any contact with Hammer command...fifteen minutes."

"No time. I need assets tasked to my location. Anything with a mass accelerator you can spare and I need it _now_."

"Understood. Transferring you...the New York and the Sydney." An explosion was suddenly audible in the background, as was the immediate blare of a shrill klaxon. "Get back to me as soon...you can spare the time. Hackett out."

Immediately green lights blinked into existence on Shepard's omni-tool, signaling the connection with both Alliance cruisers. He began typing commands hastily, yelling at Garrus to mark the target for an orbital strike.

"On it."

And here was yet another unbelievably dangerous, suicidal act they'd be bringing down on their heads in the span of a few minutes. The force of a fully accelerated slug from an Alliance cruiser could level a third of a city the size of London, its force measured in megatons. It was ludicrously obvious that he'd need them to dial back the power significantly if the ground team was going to survive this. Utilizing mass accelerators for close-in infantry support had never been done before for a reason.

His screen flashed confirmation, the vectors and firing solutions scrolling past as far above somewhere twin cannons the size of small skyscrapers spooled up.

Harbinger roared again, one of its massive legs crashing down and through a relatively intact building, sending a plume of smoke up into the sky. Red arcs began building at the base of one of its great tentacles, spiraling around as its beam charged while it continued rotating.

"_Fire, fire, fire_!" Shepard screamed into his comm, pulling Garrus down next to him as the command broadcast into orbit.

Even at ten percent of maximum velocity the single round sent up a plume of dust close to two hundred yards high when it struck the ground, boring a hole clean through the massive Reaper in the span of a millisecond, shaking the ground and rattling everything within a half mile.

Everything froze, waiting for something to happen. Even Harbinger seemed genuinely stunned by the strike, its cannon rapidly losing power as it was actually damaged for the first time in its incomprehensibly long life.

"Good hit!" Shepard shouted over the noise. "Good hit! Fire for effect! Bring it on!"

More rounds rained down, repeating every five seconds or so and skewering the engine of destruction one after the other, sending geysers of smoke and ash into the darkened sky. The monster roared, this time actually seeming to sound in pain, its body featuring two dozen gaping holes in the thick armored carapace.

One leg staggered from the onslaught, two of its others sliding to compensate.

A round struck one of the legs at the joint, shattering the entire appendage and rocking the Reaper. Two more smashed into its lower body, drilling through and causing it to wobble further. By now the entire machine was ensconced in the dust of the impacts, affording the awestruck squad only fleeting views between strikes.

When Harbinger began to fall it started slowly, wavering back and forth as it fought to maintain its balance. But the movements became ever more prominent as it continued to fail. Eventually it couldn't maintain its position anymore and tipped, the entire two kilometer tall living machine plummeting to earth, crushing a swath of already destroyed city for blocks and shaking half the city from the impact.

Still the mass accelerator rounds fell, adjusting as the target shifted sideways. Shepard just watched. He had no intention of calling them off until the thing was good and dead.

The entire squad, even the Krogan, just stood there, stunned at the destruction and scene that continued to unfold before them. Then Wrex roared, joined quickly by Grunt and the others of his clan. Even Samara smiled at the victory.

"That was..." Garrus shook his head, blinking rapidly as he continued processing the scene. The Commander finally called the cruisers off, returning them to the battle raging out of control in the night sky. "I don't really know what that was, but damn. Shepard, you really don't do anything small, do you?"

Shepard was already heading back to Ashley though. He grinned, but even now was already moving on. They still had a long way to go. "Get them ready to move, Garrus. They've got a minute to find every last heat sink and grenade they can. I've got a feeling we're going to need them."

"You sure know how to impress a girl." Ash was sitting on the rubble again with Tali nearby, both of them coated in a thin layer of dust from the massive plumes kicked up.

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. It was time for the two of them to head back to the command and control point and they both knew it, reluctant to leave their friends and teammates.

"You two be safe," he said. "There's still plenty of Reaper ground forces out there. Nothing crazy, okay? Get back to Anderson and report in. We'll handle the heavy lifting. And you get those looked at it." He pointed at Williams' arm.

Tali sniffled and grabbed the Commander, hugging him tightly for a second before letting go and turning away. Ash kissed him gently, her fingers ghosting over his cheek. "Kill them all," she whispered. "Every last one of them. I believe in you. Save us all." Then she was moving gingerly away, her good arm over Tali's shoulder for support.

"Garrus," Ash said, sending her friend a pleading look as he stepped forward. "Keep him alive. I want him coming back." A mandible clicked as he stood there quietly for a moment, but the Turian nodded soberly. Williams managed a small, weak smile and then winced as she placed more weight on her injured leg, allowing Tali to assist her moving over the rubble in the opposite direction.

The Commander watched them for another few seconds before they disappeared around a corner, the Lieutenant Commander sending him one last, sad look, her eyes bright with tears she'd never let fall.

The team was assembled, all of them looking slightly worse for wear, but well armed and ready to go. Beyond the tip of one of Harbinger's downed and destroyed legs the Conduit still pulsed brightly with energy, sending a beam of light skyward to the Citadel.

Garrus nodded, fingering his Mantis and squaring his shoulders. Jack cracked her neck and drew her shotgun, her former students gathered around her fingering assault rifles and submachine guns nervously. The Krogan team was practically bouncing they were so excited, every last one of them grinning almost maniacally in a way that was completely at odds with the ever serene Justicar standing nearby.

"We end this," Shepard began. "Right here and right now. There's no telling what we'll face on the Citadel, but we push forward no matter the cost. We find the Catalyst and activate the Crucible. Nobody stops moving, nobody backs down. Back each other up and give em hell. We work as a team." He turned to Wrex and Grunt. "You're on point, but stay close, the rest of us will provide cover. I don't want you guys charging off on us." Jack and her team of biotics were next. "Rear guard. Keep our flanks clear and lend barrier and artillery support for the rest of us." The ex-convict grinned. "Jack, bring the rain down on anything that gets in our way. No mercy." She nodded enthusiastically and clapped Prangley on the back hard. "EDI, stay out of the way as best you can. We're going to need you to help figure the damn thing out and deal with any problems that pop up. I need you in one piece. Clear?"

"Understood, Commander."

Shepard scanned over the assembled squad one last time, triggering the mechanism on his back and drawing his Vindicator. Garrus' mandibles twitched and he nodded when his eyes passed over the former C-Sec agent. They were as ready as they were going to get. Half a battalion of Alliance Marines had payed with their lives to get them this far. As had the Normandy itself. As had James Vega and Stephen Cortez. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers and sailors of all species were buying them time on the ground, in the air, and in orbit, working together to hold back an overwhelming force in the barest hope that a squad of fifteen individuals comprised of Humans, Asari, Krogan, and Turians could halt eons of galactic history.

The Commander snapped the armor piercing mod into his rifle. "All right. Time to save the galaxy. Let's move."

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><p><em>AN: So obviously this is supposed to be more than one chapter. No, it won't be the thirty plus epic that Legend, my Dark Knight Rises fanfic is. Perhaps two, maybe three chapters or so...possibly even more depending on how far I work this into the events post Mass Effect 3. We'll see.  
><em>

_Oh, and obviously this Shepard has been loyal to Ashley all along. Sorry Talimancers, this is just the way this story developed.  
><em>

_Please review though and let me know if this is worth continuing though._


	2. Chapter 2

_And the story continues...  
><em>

_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or alerted this story. It's been truly fun to see the enthusiasm this has been met with. With that said, please take a moment to review. It only takes a second and really lets us authors know what you think and keeps us motivated to get you more content. I never cease to get excited when I see an alert in my email. It truly is great motivation. Let me know what you think of the story, Mass Effect 3,...anything.  
><em>

_A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to the Mass Effect Universe. I'm just here playing in their sandbox._

* * *

><p>The ride up the beam to the Citadel was...disorienting. Something about molecular reintegration EDI has postulated though even she seemed somewhat unsure. Yet another way the Reapers had an entire united galaxy outmatched. Either way, even the Krogan and their legendary steel stomachs had to take a moment to deal with the dizziness and sick-to-the-stomach feeling they emerged with. A couple of individuals even emptied the contents of their stomachs.<p>

Thankfully there hadn't been a welcoming party too or it may have turned into a fiasco. Even a couple of Marauders could have done some serious damage to the small bunch in their unbalanced state.

Unlike the vision he'd experienced while under the influence of indoctrination they emerged into a spacious chamber overlooking two of the closed Wards below them, curving up to either side and off into the distance where all five met at the closed tip. From the angle out the window it seemed as though they were still in the Presidium, somewhere deep in its outer shell where no one but keepers had ever been.

Had Liara made the journey with them rather than staying behind and utilizing her connections as Shadow Broker to aid the fight she would have undoubtedly started rambling about the historical precedence. Or at least the old Liara would have. The one he still glimpsed from time to time beneath the jaded, world weary Asari she'd grown into. Tragedy, revenge, and desperation had a way of doing that to a person.

"Will you look at that," Garrus breathed softly, cradling his Mattock as he stared at the view before them.

It wasn't the sight of the station that was so sobering.

Instantly obvious to all was that the Citadel was also very much a war zone unto itself. Fires, explosions, and flashes of gunfire could be clearly seen down amongst the buildings, its inhabitants fighting the Reaper forces for their very lives. There was even a pair of Reaper Destroyers marching along on Tayseri Ward, their beam weapons carving paths of destruction in the thickly developed spaces. At close to five hundred feet tall it was difficult to imagine them being considered small, but next to the largest of their species they were mere insects. Equally sobering was the realization that the relatively peaceful, darker sections nearer the group's location in the Presidium ring at the juncture of the massive space station were already wiped clean, anybody there either obliterated or driven away.

It was a battle the station's inhabitants were gradually losing. Quickly.

"EDI," he asked quietly, watching as another red blast tore through buildings and dwellings unhindered, "you got a fix on our location?"

Her omni-tool was already lit up as she ran a scan. "We are located in the outer layer of the Presidium, somewhere near the Asari diplomatic docking bays. We'll be required to navigate approximately thirty degrees and roughly one eighth of the way around the ring..."

"Just give me a direction."

"That way," she said pointing. "I've hypothesized that we need to get to the Presidium Tower in order to access the Conduit. Based on the master controls Saren was able to access it is the most likely place to activate the device."

Shepard shrugged and nodded, gesturing for Grunt and EDI to lead the way. It was as good a plan as any. Thankfully the transport beam hadn't stuck them at the end of one of the Citadel's arms. They'd have had to trek for hours, if not days, in order to make it to the tower. "You heard the lady," he said. "Wrex you're up."

The next fifteen minutes were spent attempting to navigate a section of the Citadel never before seen or explored. A maze of narrow accessways and smooth, curving hallways bearing no ornamentation or indications of their location that were simultaneously spotlessly clean and old to the point of feeling ancient. Thoroughfares for the keepers EDI at one time postulated. A means for them to access anywhere in the sprawling station including the protein vats, life support systems, and perhaps even their own quarters...or whatever passed for those here. Things no organic being had ever laid eyes on or understood. Things taken for granted and forgotten by millions upon millions of inhabitants.

None of it seemed right. It all seemed so foreign and eerie, so Reaper-like.

There were also no bodies. Despite thousands and thousands of individuals being dragged and herded from Earth to the Citadel for processing or other unknown fates there was no sign of them. Yet another departure from his vision, where they were stacked high, grotesquely slaughtered in that narrow, red tinged hallway.

Shepard shuddered involuntarily.

EDI had taken up station directly behind the bulk of Urdnot Wrex and Urdnot Grunt, directing the two as best she could through the labyrinth while staying protectively behind the two hulking Krogan, both of whom were growing restless as the minutes ticked by. The stark silence and dark, creepy, closed-in space was starting to take its toll on all of them. Battle and the inhuman groan of husks would almost be preferable at this point.

EDI's omni-tool was still on, her head down and concentrated on it when she finally broke the silence. "Within ten meters the corridor should be at its closest to the Presidium Commons. I would estimate the wall thickness at less than half a meter. We can attempt to breach it there."

Shepard nodded and turned to the Asari trailing behind him. "Samara, think you and Jack can handle that?"

"It should pose little threat." Jack just cracked her knuckles and began wringing her arms as though limbering up. Its not like she'd turn down the chance to cause some mayhem anyway. Like the Krogan, she was also probably itching for an end to the quiet.

After EDI marked a point on the curving wall of the hallway Subject Zero and the Justicar stepped up, flanked by several of the Krogan that would plunge through the breached bulkhead as soon as it was cleared to secure the far side. Two brilliant blue, swirling coronas of biotic energy flashed into place, pulsing with power as the two drew power from their eezo nodes.

With everyone in position the Commander nodded, prompting Jack to start growling, a sound that elevated into a primal scream as the two unleashed the biggest biotic throws of their lives at the solid wall. The first attempt buckled it magnificently, denting the entire thing four feet in on itself. The second throw crumbled it completely, sending a chunk the size of an Alliance interceptor hurtling across the Commons and into a deserted storefront. There was no opposition on the far side, just more eerily quiet, dark spaces in what was usually a bustling, light, lively part of the massive city. Even the holographic sky high above them was no longer functioning. The first time anyone could remember that ever having happened.

Again, there were no bodies, just signs of fighting. Recent fighting too judging by the smell of smoke and still smoldering impacts from weapon's fire.

Apparently C-Sec wasn't going to simply roll over and give up.

"We should move," Garrus chimed in, scanning the far side of the ring with his rifle's scope. "Someone may have heard the commotion. Probably best to keep them guessing. I seriously doubt we can handle whatever they can throw at us should they manage to pin us down."

"Right. That way to the tower," Shepard said, pointing to their right where the Commons curved away and up away from them as it continued around in the distance. "Everyone keep up and stay on your toes. We'll cut through the docking bays to the embassies."

As one they began moving again, careful to maintain strict silence with Grunt leading the pack, his Revenant held high and scanning side to side for any movement with the others fanned out behind him.

The first attack came upon entering the Elcor diplomatic docking bays.

Like many of the other areas in the Presidium and Wards this one had been repurposed for refugees, shipping crates lining the walls two and three high as impromptu shelters for the beings calling this place home for the past two months or so. The tight living conditions and massive groups pouring into the Citadel had turned them into little more than shanty towns. Infighting, looting, gangs, were abundant. Entire families barely getting by on only what meager things they could haggle or steal.

It was also estimated that close to a sixteenth of the entire remaining Batarian population now called the station home, their entire homeworld and system gone in the opening salvo of the great machines.

The bodies of three Turian soldiers were strewn near the entrance, the bluish blood of the security officers smeared along one bulkhead. More bodies were visible around the next corner. A lot more.

Alongside the bodies and pieces of thousands of husks and cannibals.

Humans, Batarians, Turians...nearly every species present and slaughtered. The entire dock of refugees...male, female, young, old, infirm...all destroyed mercilessly. Shepard heard one of Jack's former students, Ensign Walters if he remembered correctly, gasp at the grotesque sight. The entire team remained deathly silent as they picked their way through, everyone but the Krogan carefully avoiding the fallen.

Dozens and dozens of dragons teeth were definitely a new addition as well, the mechanisms for turning living beings into cybernetic thralls lining both sides of the wide causeway between docking bays. Also new was the steadily building, familiar groaning that accompanied the flood of husks from the far end of the facility.

Shepard dropped to a knee, putting a burst of fire right through the head of the first target he sighted on, the other weapons around him opening up a split second later. Shockwaves tore down the courtyard, flipping the creatures end over end as they repeatedly carved swathes through their ranks. Dozens fell only to be replaced by dozens more, their blue, glowing eyes empty as their hands clawed their way forward.

When they were less than ten yards away the Krogan charged, barreling through their ranks like living freight trains, crushing them indiscriminately as though they were bugs. Shepard, Jack, Samara and the rest of the biotics launched shockwaves as fast as their nodes could handle it, letting them hit even the Krogan warriors as they tore into the husks with their shotguns and bare hands.

In the end the stream could only be slowed for a finite period before it reached them, clawing and biting.

One of the ex-students, Rodriquez, went down under a flood of the creatures screaming, only to be pulled bloodied but still fighting right back out of the sea of clawing hands by Wrex, the Krogan's Claymore booming as he shredded a husk's head.

Samara and Jack were working together, the human pulling half a dozen of them into the air at a time while the Justicar detonated the mass effect fields, turning them into biotic explosives and leveling a dozen or more of the mindless, charging creatures at a time.

Shepard ejected another heat sink, the hissing canister flipping away as he sent another blast of cascading biotic energy exploding down the path and through his assailants. Again, the writhing mass continued forward.

"Shepard, we're gonna need to try something different!" Garrus wasn't even aiming his assault rifle at this point. At their current range it simply wasn't necessary. Instead he was using it as a club, alternating between firing it at the swarming enemies and using the gun to fend off the husks as he also hacked at them with his omni-blade. "There's too many! We can't hold out against this indefinitely!" A husk leaped, groaning emptily as it clung to the armor in his back. The former vigilante pulled it over the top of himself and slammed one of his foot's sharp foreclaws into an eye socket once it was on the ground.

Shepard nodded, already battling his way towards the entrance of a smaller corridor branching off the docks. He had no idea where it led, but at least the close confines would mean the Reaper's numbers wouldn't count for what they did in the wide open spaces of the star port.

"Everyone, _on me_!" he bellowed over the din, hoping his voice and the comm unit would carry over the blasts and sounds of battle to the rest of the squad. "Grunt, I need an open lane to the far wall! _Now_!"

The roar was ear splitting, the young Krogan batting aside a pair of cannibals as though they were rag dolls before barreling forward through the crowd. Garrus barely had time to avoid the giant reptile, diving to the side as Grunt crushed the two husks he'd been wrestling underfoot.

Samara was close behind, slamming a wide biotic throw into the wall of soulless creatures that flattened their ranks several deep. The remaining Krogan stepped forward, providing a wall of thick hide, armor, shotguns, and heavy machine guns so that Jack, the biotic students, and Garrus could follow the Justicar to the entryway where Shepard and Grunt were waiting.

When the pair of Brutes showed up, plowing through the throngs of their own troops, the organic shield wall failed.

Two Krogan met one head on, the crack of bone on metal exoskeleton echoing over the din of the husks. Together they were able to pin the creature long enough for Wrex to rip its repurposed Turian head right off its body, heaving it at the nearest husk.

The remaining three Krogan weren't as prepared.

Rather than striking all three head in, the juggernaut slipped sideways, smashing into the outermost warrior and collapsing the wall in on itself. Warps and biotic attacks from three different directions struck it simultaneously and immediately, the small, shifting mass effect fields shredding and disintegrating the armor where they struck. The Brute slowed from the pounding, but didn't stop, clawing its way over the still kicking Krogan berserker as the rest of the squad emptied their heat sinks into its side. Surging forward, it managed one final push, swinging its massive claw.

The strike glanced off the nearest charging Krogan, its size and heft saving him and meaning it did little more than knock him off his feet and halt his attack. The human, Ensign Grant, wasn't so lucky. The monstrosity's swing still bore enough force to send him flying, landing in a heap of tangled limbs with the dozen husks and cannibals that broke his fall before Garrus' omni-blade severed the Brute's spine between the shoulder blades.

The shrill scream that came next would stay with Shepard for the rest of his life as the young man disappeared beneath a writhing mass of cybernetic abominations.

Jack's body pulsed, biotic energy washing over her as she reacted next to him. The Commander tackled her before she could initiate a charge. The tattooed human snarled at him in return. "Grunt, a little help!"

Holstering his Revenant he picked the small woman up one armed, tossing her over his shoulder as she pounded on his armored back, screaming, "Put me down! He's not dead yet! _Fucking_let me go! I'll kill them all!"

"_Go_!" Shepard pointed down the hallway entrance and the Krogan took off, oblivious as his burden continued pounding away at him. "Let's _move_!" he shouted to the rest of the squad, launching a shockwave and providing covering fire for the scrambling survivors.

Garrus and Wrex were the last two to make it to his position, backing slowly as they all laid down a blanket of mass accelerated rounds into the still pulsing mass of the enemy. "Grenades!" he shouted over the gunfire, yanking one of his own out of his armor's compartment as he continued to fire one handed. His colleagues followed suit, Wrex even cradling two in his massive palm.

The Commander nodded, thumbing the activation switch and dropping his. With one last burst of rifle fire the three turn and ran, the husks only a few feet behind.

They were fifteen yards away when the explosives went off, shredding dozens of their pursuers in the blasts and pelting them with dust and small pieces of the station. Samara was waiting for them ten yards further down the accessway, energy already swirling around her.

Shepard skidded to a stop and spun, dropping to a knee and opening fire again. "Down! Bring it down!" he yelled at the Justicar as Garrus and Wrex lent their own significant fire to the narrow confines.

It was a novel approach she took, one he'd never seen used in quite the way it was, but he couldn't deny its effectiveness. Warps began appearing at every structural joint in the space, the unstable fields eating away at the materials. A couple seconds later the Justicar cast a huge singularity, its swirling mass sucking the weakened ceiling and walls in on itself.

The walls groaned inwards from the power of the gravitational anomaly. Slowly, the ceiling began to buckle too as the warps continued to eat away at its structural integrity. The trio of soldiers continued to fire into their pursuers, the bodies now beginning to stack up on one another where they fell.

With a final ominous crack, the bulkheads snapped, everything collapsing in on itself and the gradually fading singularity and crushing husks beneath the thick pile of debris.

Shepard finished off one damaged Cannibal with his omni-blade and surveyed their new barricade, steel and permacrete choking the passageway behind them. Hopefully the keepers would be a little too busy to fix this immediately. He nodded to Samara and clapped Garrus on the back, following the two of them further into the dimly lit corridor to the rest of the waiting team.

He heard them, or rather her, well before they turned the corner.

"Goddammit!" Jack screamed, punching the bulkhead wall to her left as she sat, her head in her hands. "_Fuck_! We should have done _something!_" She jumped back to her feet as they passed, glaring at them, but just punching the wall again. "_Fuck_!"

Grunt sat nearby, looking utterly bewildered, an expression completely foreign on the massive creature. It was almost akin to...caring. As though he wanted to comfort the tiny, unstable human he'd reluctantly built a friendship with, but was both confused and fearful how to go about doing that.

Luckily, she wasn't glaring or appearing to blame anyone in particular though, her eyes glistening, but unwilling to show any weakness as they met the floor again, her chest heaving. Instead she let her frustration and sadness bleed into even more anger, punching the wall twice more in rapid succession.

Even the newer Krogan gave the former Subject Zero a wide berth as they trudged by.

The Commander approached her, but surprisingly instead of flying off the handle any further like she might once have, the biotic hung her head, took a deep breath, and went about inspecting Rodriguez's face and arms for any serious injuries, sadly patting the back of the silently weeping younger woman as anger and frustration practically rolled off her.

Eventually she looked up at him and nodded sadly. She may not be happy about it, but in the end she at least understood. God help the Reapers' forces though when she saw them again.

"Spirits," Garrus whispered. He looked up, panting and out of breath at the Commander from where he was leaning on the wall. "Is that what they're facing in the Wards? That's got to be like...eighty or ninety percent civilian in there. Even _with _the militias and C-Sec, it'd be a slaughter against a rush of husks like that. I've never seen so many in one place before."

"It is likely that clearing the Citadel of any opposition would be a major objective of the Reaper's," EDI said, in her even, slightly synthetic way of speaking. It sounded odd next to the heavy breathing of all the organics. "With its ability to control the mass relays it is a vital cog in their strategy. It would make sense that they would commit significant forces to its pacification."

"But they're already here," Wrex said, stomping up next to Shepard and crossing his massive, armored arms. "They don't need the Citadel to get to our galaxy anymore. Why would they care now?"

Shepard closed his eyes and hung his head. How had he not seen what a vital piece of the puzzle the Citadel would play. Even taking the Crucible out of the equation it was still of incredible strategic importance. "Because they can disable the other relays from here," he whispered. The others close by turned to look at him. "They can cut off the other worlds and leave us and them without support or reinforcements or hopes of retreat. Their strategy revolves around limiting the forces that can be brought to bear against them at any one time. Then they can take their time if they control the Citadel. And the relays."

"Correct, Commander."

Silence encompassed the room, several of the Krogan berserkers fidgeting impatiently in the stillness. Faint pounding could be heard through the layers of rubble sealing off the path from their enemy around the corner.

"Alright, we've gotta keep moving," Shepard sighed, eyeing the way they'd come. "That barricade won't hold them forever. EDI, give me some good news."

"We can still cut through the embassy facilities, but it is a less optimal route. Although it will circumvent many of the larger spaces we would have been forced to travel through on a more direct path it will also force us to enter the Presidium Tower through the main entrance at the Presidium Center. That location is likely to be well defended."

"Terrific," Garrus muttered, his mandibles flexing into the human equivalent of a grim smile. "And here I thought the hard part was behind us. Never let it be said that you didn't like a challenge, Shepard."

The Presidium Center was an expansive plaza at the base of the tower housing the Council and its various functionaries. Constantly revised and rebuilt through the years since the Asari discovered the station, it was a space that was as equally beautiful with its garden-like setting as it was defensible. Approached from a wide, open causeway it featured lush, terraced planters that rose up and away back to the ornate entry of the Presidium Tower itself. It meant that the enemy would have numbers, cover, and the high ground in their favor. One or two might have been overcome with the might of his assembled team, but against all three?

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" his Turian friend asked.

He nodded, rubbing a tired hand over his face. "We need options. A frontal assault would be suicide."

"And this coming from the man who decided attacking the Collectors with nothing more than a frigate and a team of a dozen mercs and crazies was a good idea."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"Which is the only reason I'll be willing to go along with whatever psychotic notion you happen to come up with this time."

Grunt headed out, followed closely by the rest of the Krogan squad, Samara, and the other biotics. The Commander caught Jack's arm as she walked past, watching as her former students followed the other aliens obediently.

"They gonna be okay?" he asked, never taking his eyes off them. "Things are probably only going to get worse. I need to know if they can handle it."

She sighed and watched as her former students trudged behind the Asari Justicar and the team of Krogan down the corridor away from them. Garrus silently watched the two humans, standing off to the side. After another moment the biotic nodded, squaring her shoulders. "They're reeling, but they're tougher than they look. They'll be fine." The ex-convict turned and met the Commander's look. "They know what's at stake."

"Good enough," Shepard said, but he shook his head. "This isn't a spot I would have wanted to put them in. They're still mostly kids. I hate asking this of them."

"They're here and they're doing the job. None of us are going to let you down, Shepard. They'll kill as many of those fuckers as they can." She continued looking at him, but walked away, following her apprentices and leaving Garrus and the Commander to bring up the rear.

"By the way," he said, looking at his friend out of the corner of his eye, "I'm open to suggestions."

"For the Presidium Center?" Shepard nodded.

Apparently Jack was close enough to still overhear them. "Hey," she called back, turning to look at them. "We _could _commandeer a shuttle or something. Use it to find another entrance higher up."

Garrus immediately shook his head. "No good. The entire Citadel is on lockdown with the Ward arms closed. That means the emergency airlock at the top of the tower will be shut down automatically. It's the only access point not found directly on the Presidium itself. Even a bypass won't work on it at that point." Jack just stared at him and arched an eyebrow. "What?" the Turian said, " I _was _C-Sec at one point, remember?"

""What about blowing it up?" Wrex offered. "Load up an aircar with explosives and turn it into a bomb. Then we crash it into the plaza. _Boom!_"

Jack nodded her head in agreement. Blowing things up were generally a staple of the Krogan and Subject Zero so of course they'd agree on that plan of action. By now EDI and Samara had wandered over and joined the small group discussing their options as well. The rest continued ahead, clearing the corridor.

"Except I haven't seen a single airworthy vehicle since we stepped foot on the Citadel."

Garrus frowned, typing away at his omni-tool. "The shuttle and taxi services aren't responding and the rest I've seen are either smoking ruins or were probably taken to flee the Reapers out to the Wards. Hell, we'd need more than one for the explosion alone _and _several others to transport us in quickly following it anyway. Logistically, I just don't think we can manage it."

They all walked in silence for a few seconds, only the sounds of their footsteps and the hushed tones of the young biotics ahead providing any noise.

"What about venting the Presidium?" Shepard wondered aloud. Garrus froze and slowly turned back to his friend, his mandibles flaring in shock. Behind him Jack stood wide eyed. "What?"

"Now why didn't I think of that? Just to be clear though," the Turian continued, still dumbstruck. "You're actually suggesting venting...the Presidium...the _entire _Presidium...into space?" Garrus actually chuckled, shaking his head. "You never disappoint, do you? He glanced at EDI. "Any idea if that's even possible?"

"Unknown. The Citadel's defenses against a hull breach have never been tested."

"That's because nobody's ever been crazy enough to suggest it," Garrus muttered.

"Well, it would certainly cause some chaos," Shepard pointed out. "And we're equipped to work in zero gravity once we find suits for all the biotics. If the Reaper forces aren't ready for it it could very well dislodge most of what they have in place."

"EDI?" Garrus asked.

"The logic _is_sound. The Reapers have not demonstrated the use of emplaced defenses in any of the conflicts I am aware of. It is likely that foot soldiers will be utilized to protect the entry to the tower. While it is unlikely that a loss of atmosphere will effect them the forces caused by explosive decompression will likely render a great many of them ineffective."

Shepard nodded and turned to the Turian and Wrex, "At the very least it takes care of the husks and leaves us with the more conventional units to take care of. Units whose numbers we can maybe handle or at least fight past."

"But that _still_doesn't answer how you propose going about it? It'll take more explosives than we've got or can scrounge up to punch a hole in the outer shell."

"So what say we just open a door somewhere then?" Garrus blinked, his mouth hanging partially open as if to rebut, but nothing came. "Listen, C-Sec Headquarters is on our way, right." He turned to EDI who nodded, comprehension snapping into place on her features. Shepard turned back to the others. "I think it's safe to say we can probably cause some mayhem from there. Open up a few pressure hatches and disable some magnetic fields and _boom_, instant decompression. Come on, whatya say, Wrex?"

The scarred Krogan grinned wickedly. "You kidding?" he boomed, "I like any plan that involves blowing stuff out an airlock. You've got my vote."

"Fuck," was all Jack managed to say, shaking her head. But she didn't object.

The group began deliberately moving again, the Krogan scouts sweeping the corridors for any signs of hostiles as they continued on their way, now headed for the massive station's primary security hub.

"You realize we have no way of knowing how the Presidium will...react to those kind of forces," Garrus whispered. "It could be torn to pieces around us."

"Something tells me the Reapers built this place to last." Shepard patted the Turian's shoulder. "Relax. It'll work."

"And if there's anyone else left alive on the Presidium?"

The Commander glanced soberly at his friend, before continuing his march forward. "If there are any left then we pray they're somewhere safe when we vent. That's all we can do. The mission's more important."

The two walked another two dozen yards in silence, bringing up the rear of the group of warriors.

"You know," Garrus said, "someday you're going to have to tell me how you continually talk me into this stuff."

* * *

><p>"Shit, Cerberus," Garrus hissed, resting his Mantis atop a low planter wall as he watched a group of the white armored troops mill about through the telescopic lense on the rifle. His monocle fed him the distance and windage and he corrected his aim slightly. "What the hell are they doing here?"<p>

A banshee floated past the assembled troops, dark energy crackling around the elongated figure as it moved eerily past. The white armored humans stopped to watch her, possibly even looking slightly uncomfortable in its presence, but they didn't attack or move away.

That was certainly...telling.

"You're shitting me, right? Like I needed _another_ reason to hate these guys." Jack pushed aside a small branch on the low shrub she was lying prone behind to get a better look. "Now they're working _for_the Reapers?"

"I guess this explains their attacks on us and the Alliance," Shepard said from between the two. "We knew the Illusive Man was experimenting with indoctrination and cybernetics on his troops and the refugees. I guess they finally fell under the control of the Reapers. Or at least he did."

"So, what's next?"

"Plan hasn't changed. We need to get in there." He shifted slightly to look down the line of his team.

They were two levels above the entrance to the security compound, strung out in a rough line overlooking the main doors from a series of garden terraces usually used for outdoor dining and lounging. From here they had clear line of sight down the wide thoroughfare the building opened up on as well as ample cover from return fire.

Of course the biotic Reaper construct could throw a monkey wrench in that if given the chance.

Most of the team was laying down in one of the planters or crouched behind the thick, waist high railings that lined this level, waiting for his commands. The Krogan, uncomfortable with fighting from the prone position were concealed behind wide pillars and support columns a level below them.

"Alright, biotics will handle the Banshee," the Commander said, activating his comms to address the rest of the gathered group. "Garrus, you're on the Centurion. Put him down before he can call for help. Once they're out of the way we'll turn the Krogan loose."

The Turian shifted next to him slightly to alter his aim.

"Garrus?"

"On target."

He glanced at Jack. She nodded, her features set in a grim line as she fingered her hand cannon. At this range a shotgun would be all but useless.

"Fire."

The Mantis roared, sending a solid slug several times the speed of sound screaming towards its target. Before the Centurion even heard the crack of the firearm the projectile punched a hole cleanly through his head, his shields barely even slowing it down. The Banshee's head swiveled to find the source of the sound at the same time her barrier erupted in warps, their fields siphoning energy away. EDI even managed to overcharge the barrier further with her omni-tool, sending the Reaper's construct shrieking in fury.

"Light her up! Before she charges!"

Fifteen firearms opened up from behind various concealed positions on two levels, spattering against the creature's dwindling barrier. In its confusion it charged, biotically firing forward in the wrong direction before slamming into one of the scrambling Cerberus soldiers. Her armor didn't last long after that.

Garrus' rifle exploded again, neatly skewering the skull of a trooper foolish enough to lean out of cover for a split second.

"Aralakh team, you're up."

He couldn't see it, but heard the roar as Grunt led the remainder of his company forward, dropping down the last floor and barreling into the small courtyard in front of C-Sec. It didn't take long for the remaining Cerberus troops to realize what was happening. It didn't take long after that for panic to set in.

Apparently even indoctrinated soldiers knew to be terrified of a group of charging Krogan.

Garrus cleanly severed the spine of a blindly retreating trooper and stood up, ejecting the Mantis' spent heat sink as the reptiles dealt with any stragglers. "I just love it when a plan comes together," he managed as he followed Shepard, EDI, and the biotics to the maintenance ladder that would take them down. Wrex already had his forces grouped at the doors waiting for them when they got down, readying to breach and sweep clean whatever awaited inside.

The lobby was almost eerily quiet given the defensive units stationed outside. While not nearly as important as some sections of the Citadel, C-Sec headquarters was still a position worth protecting. Something the security agents had kept in mind judging by the corpses splayed out around the open room behind hastily constructed barriers and the blast impacts riddling the walls from rifle fire.

"They put up a hell of a fight," Garrus said, bending to examine one Turian as the Krogan took the lead. His mandibles clicked against his lower jaw as he rested a clawed hand on the alien's still chest. In another lifetime he'd have still been here, joining these agents in defending the vital headquarters and likely falling along with them.

"Contact!"

The elevator opened at the far end of the entrance hall, spewing forth Cerberus troops as Shepard's team dove for cover. So intent was the enemy on the forces at the opposite end of the room that they failed to immediately take notice of the giant lizards to their flanks. While Garrus had been investigating the Krogan lead team had continued to work their way forward, covering three quarters of the towering lobby by the time the elevator opened.

One of their roars alerted the first Guardian, causing him to spin in place to bring his massive shield to bear. Garrus put a slug through his now exposed cranium in thanks.

A pair of Centurions deployed gas grenades in hopes of confusing the beasts, their smoke billowing out and obscuring the view as engineers went to work hastily erecting defenses and turrets to further ward them off. The rest of the troopers simply ran for cover themselves. Those that stumbled into a Krogan in the haze were dealt with quickly and brutally.

Flashing to Shepard's right, Samara reached out towards the haze, a small singularity blinking into existence. Swirling in the center of the room, its gravity well slowly grew, small pieces of furniture and debris skidding across the floor. Within seconds the biotic attack had sucked all the smoke into its center, detonating upon completion and leaving two stunned and exposed engineers standing without cover in the suddenly clear room.

They fell quickly from a combination of omni-tool and biotic attacks.

With the air clear and the turrets left destroyed and sparking Grunt and his squad roared forward. One Centurion found himself caught from behind by a lead Krogan as he attempted to hurtle an upturned table to get away. The alien latched on and twisted, the man's armor and shielding meaning little as his head was screwed a hundred and eighty degrees, his neck snapping like a toothpick. Another trooper turned from firing at Jack and her pupils to see the barrel of a Claymore leveled at his head. The resulting blast left nothing but a smoking crater atop the man's shoulders and a grinning Krogan.

Things didn't improve much for Cerberus from there.

Four more ambushes were attempted further within the building, each one meeting with the same success as the last and each one growing more desperate for the outmatched defenders. Despite the powerful biotics on his side, it turned out to be the Krogan who were the deciding factor in their push through C-Sec's headquarters. So focused were the Cerberus forces on the rampaging remnants of Aralakh company that they became easy pickings for Garrus, Shepard, and the rest of the sharpshooters on the team.

The computer control center they were seeking was the site of the final attack. A large, open office space, the computer room itself occupied a large, glassed enclosure that was cantilevered partially above the first floor. Responsible for all the surveillance on the Presidium and docks, the first floor was row upon row of computer work stations, each one tasked with sifting through reams of video data the C-Sec VI's pulled aside for further scrutiny. The wall above the room's entrance, opposite the control center, was made up of towering holographic monitors, normally cataloging ship traffic, tracking people of interest, and maintaining a close eye on the refugee population on the docks. At the moment they were still powered, but explosives and weapons fire had left them teetering awkwardly and awash in static.

Shepard swept into the control room on the upper floor following the firefight below, sweeping the space with his rifle as Garrus entered behind him, sliding right to cover his portion of the room before disappearing into an adjacent alcove. EDI and Samara came next, their guns drawn, but not leveled as they scanned the myriad computers...and bodies within.

"Clear," Garrus said, compacting his Mattock as he stepped back into the room. "Nothing back there but a communications suite and more corpses."

The Commander nodded and glanced down out the windows where the Krogan were loudly overturning desks and piling furniture up, creating a hasty defensive position from the rubble of what they'd just destroyed. Jack and the biotics were doing what they could to help, but in the end it was simply better to stay out of their way, gathering heat sinks and grenades or whatever supplies they could scrounge together.

"They fought to the end to hold this position," Samara said softly behind him. She was crouched over the body of a human female in a C-Sec uniform. An Avenger lay two feet from her limp hand. To her left a Turian sat propped against the wall, his eyes vacant and staring ahead. More bodies dotted the control center and the room below.

"Last stand," Garrus muttered.

The Justicar nodded. "May they find peace with the Goddess."

Turning, the Commander found EDI already at the primary terminal, the holographic interface alight and her fingers flying over the keyboard far faster than any organic could manage.

"There has been additional security erected. I am attempting to negotiate the firewalls and encryption protocols. This will take a little longer than anticipated."

"EDI, stay on the computers. Get me control. See if you can't find some surveillance feeds between us and the tower too if you can manage it." He turned back to the two others in the room with him. "Garrus, with Jack," he said, nodding toward the window and the ex-convict below. "See what you can find in the way of armor or sealed suits." He glanced at the entry to the alcove Garrus had explored earlier. "I'm gonna make a call."

Samara stayed to protect EDI as Garrus and Shepard both went about their tasks.

The quantum entanglement processor blinked twice and chimed, signaling a good connection. The grainy hologram of the aging, scarred man in uniform appeared soon thereafter, the static condensing into a depiction of the fleet officer.

"Admiral," the Commander greeted, nodding.

"Shepard, it's good to hear from you," came the familiar, gravelly voice. "We were beginning to wonder. Progress?"

"We're moving toward the Presidium Tower now, sir, and presumably the controls for the Crucible." He glanced down at the sizable assembly of Cerberus and Reaper forces on the monitor outside the entry to the Presidium Tower that EDI had relayed into the communications center. "We just need to deal with several...uninvited guests that are standing between us and the objective."

"Good. We'll keep buying you all the time we can, but I'm gonna be honest...we're getting slaughtered up here. The Batarian and Volus forces are all but wiped out and what we have left of the combined Alliance, Turian, Asari, and Salarian fleets are probably at about fifty percent of their original capacity. Commander, we're running out of time."

"What about London?"

The projection frowned, the scar seeming to stretch further along the right side of his face. "Anderson said they're holding their ground. The Krogan are demolishing everything short of actual Reapers that get sent their way, but they're not going to hold out forever. The rest are basically fighting a holding action and being gradually pushed back. It's only a matter of time for them too."

"Understood, Admiral. One way or another it'll all be over in a matter of an hour or two. We'll get it done."

"Acknowledged. Godspeed, Shepard." The projection vibrated, Hackett's figure stumbling the tiniest bit as his flagship was struck by something. "We'll hold the line," he finished. "Hackett out."

* * *

><p><em>AN: So, probably another two chapter or so in this fic (don't hold me to that though). I'll probably try to get the next chapter out for my Batman Begins/Dark Knight fic next as this one has derailed me just a bit from that. __Gotta appease both fandoms after all. _

_Please leave a review if you get the chance._


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks to those who left me a review or comment, they really do spur me on to keep things moving along. Be sure to keep leaving them, I love hearing what you guys think. I'm curious to know what you think about my approach and whether I'm fairly close in accurately depicting the various characters. Let me here it. _

_A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to the Mass Effect Universe. I'm just here playing in their sandbox._

* * *

><p>"Any word from the Commander, sir?"<p>

A bloody and bruised Admiral Anderson glanced up from where he was concentrating on a holographic rendering of the Citadel beam and the terrain surrounding it. The crushed, blasted, once urban environment looked more and more featureless and decimated every time Ash saw it. London was quickly becoming nothing more than flattened buildings and a crushed resistance. Hope was waning in the wake of such destruction and death. Behind him data scrolled by on several wall monitors as radio chatter played out over speakers set up beside a mobile communications post. None of what Williams could make out sounded particularly optimistic.

That chatter of small arms fire could still be heard from outside, punctuated occasionally by the slower thump of the heavy cannons at the forward operating base's perimeter only darkened the mood further. Even more sporadic was the rumble of explosions or whine of atmospheric gunships as they went streaking by overhead. It was next to impossible to forget that London, and indeed Earth and the space around it, were still very much an active war zone.

The jumble of half destroyed buildings and former city streets that served as a kind of respite for the remainders of the Hammer ground team still looked much the same as when they'd left several hours earlier. The skeleton communications and security detail that had been left behind had been able to repel whatever enemy forces they'd encountered before the beaten, beleaguered troops participating in the attack had returned. The fighting Williams could hear outside was minor at best. Simply Reaper forces probing the perimeter. Husks and Cannibals making small charges and being knocked back by entrenched Alliance and coalition troops.

God help them all though if the enemy actually managed to regroup or the armada above was finally wiped out and the Reapers entered the fray. Against that what was left of Hammer was done.

The older man knowingly quirked a corner of his mouth up and nodded at her. The rumors surrounding her and Shepard hadn't been exactly...subtle this time around. He surely knew there was more than simple professional and friendly curiosity behind her question.

"They're still moving through the Citadel and meeting heavy resistance," he replied. "Admiral Hackett got word from him from C-Sec headquarters about fifteen minutes ago still very much in one piece. They're heading for the Presidium Tower as soon as they can. Or at least that's what the plan was."

"Okay," Ash said, running things through her mind. The tower made sense, that was where Saren had managed to access secret Citadel command and control consoles. She focused back on her superior officer. "And what're we doing? We can't just sit this out and let him do this alone. He's gonna need our help."

The Admiral looked back down at the table, features sharpening. "And he'll get it," he said, leaving no room for interpretation. "We're not out of this fight. Not by a long shot. Hell, if it weren't for you, Shepard, and his team Harbinger would have stopped us cold during that last push. I pulled back what I could. What was left. Now that we only have conventional forces to deal with at the beam we can make another attempt and try and give the Commander some assistance. We just need to wait a little longer for some additional help ourselves."

The Lieutenant Commander, startled, glanced up. "Reinforcements?" she said, cocking her head. "I thought we already committed everything we had to the fight."

The older man nodded, never looking up from the tactical display. "We did, but now every marine, pilot, cook, and engineer that's able to wield a weapon is coming forward. We just need to find enough transports to get them all down here. Luckily Reaper anti-air units are in a shambles so we should have better luck this time."

Ashley made a face. As far as options go, having untested rear echelon units coming to their rescue was far from ideal. "And how effective are they gonna be against Reaper forces? Most won't be combat soldiers."

Anderson looked at her evenly for a moment before he straightened up. "Hackett knows this thing is going to be won or lost here and on the Citadel. Every non-essential unit that wants in, he's handing them a gun and some armor and trying to get them down here. The Turians and Asari are doing the same." The Admiral shrugged. "It's what we have. They know the score and they know what they're up against. Remember, we're all fighting for our homes. That'll count for a lot."

The newly minted Spectre nodded and stood up straight at parade rest, clasping her hands formally behind her back. The flare of pain in her shoulder was significantly duller now thanks to modern medicine and the miracle of pain killers. Her other injuries were also treated as best they could be, the braces the field medic had put on her arm and upper leg were uncomfortable to say the least, but she'd managed to get her armor on over the top of them, swearing Tali to secrecy in the process. She may not be even close to a hundred percent, but she wasn't about to sit around when she could still do something. Not when everything that made life worthwhile was on the line.

"So, what's the plan then, sir?"

He regarded her for another moment before looking over Ash's shoulder. "Simple. We're going to try and get as many as possible into that beam," he looked squarely back at her, "but I'm still expecting heavy casualties. The Reapers won't give it up easily. With that said I've put together a striking force that's to avoid as much direct contact as possible and just get to the Citadel at all costs so they can join in the fight there. It's not much, but I've got three N7 teams and several of Shepard's old squad members already readying to go." He gestured to a holo-table on the other side of the room where a small group was collected.

Ash turned partially, following his gesture.

Despite everything that had happened over the last few months on the Normandy between her and Shepard Ash's hands still clenched involuntarily at the sight of the beautiful, raven haired woman talking with an armored Asari over the 3D display of the battlefield. That she, a gorgeous and loyal minion of the Illusive Man, had nearly taken the Commander from her during their mission against the Collectors was still very much an open wound. That it was the Lieutenant Commander's own shortsightedness and mistrust of her former Commander and lover that partially drove him to her did nothing to help the matter.

Ashley _knew_Miranda had been in London assisting with the attack, but seeing her here amongst Alliance forces she may have once killed without a second thought based on a simple, innocuous order galled her. The fact that Tali and Liara were both already alongside participating in the discussion with her hurt more than she thought too. They'd all formed bonds, perhaps not true friendships, but at least trust and respect in their dealings with each other. It was something born of fighting together. They'd trusted in Shepard and his unwavering sense of purpose, while she'd blindly dismissed them all. God, that still stung.

And on top of it all she was _still _stunningly beautiful.

For once Miranda was wearing armor instead of the figure hugging catsuit she normally prowled around in. Dark, midnight blue it still seemed to hug her curves and accentuate her assets far more than heavy protective equipment ought to. For once her hair was matted and dirty though, her face sweaty with a trickle of blood clearly visible at her temple. The perfect woman was actually...imperfect. And it only seemed to increase her sex appeal somehow.

The Spectre squeezed her fist tighter.

"The Cerberus operative?" she managed through gritted teeth. She was trying to sound objective, but judging by Anderson's look she'd failed.

"Ex-Cerberus," he pointed out, glancing back at Lawson. "She's been instrumental in taking out Sanctuary, finding Cerberus' base of operations, and even the finishing touches on the Crucible. You know that. Integrating the Reaper heart from the Illusive Man's base was almost entirely her doing. She's capable and motivated and we need all the help we can get." He paused for a moment and eyed her. "Now the question is, can you play nice?"

Ash's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You're letting me go?"

The grizzled veteran grinned. "Would it matter if I'd said no? You _know _your capabilities. As long as you're not endangering the mission then consider yourself assigned." His eyes ran back to the dark haired woman. "The question still stands though."

Ashley nodded, saying, "Of course, sir. I'll play along with her." but her eyes never left the former terrorist.

Anderson grunted. "Good," he finally said. "Then go find Colonel Lakine. He'll have operational control of the unit." With that he waved the Spectre off, leaving her to join the half assembled team at the other planning table.

Trigger finger absently flicking against the folded N7 Eagle at her hip Ashley took a deep breath and outwardly steeled herself as she strode over, exuding a confidence and self assuredness she didn't necessarily feel at the moment. There was nothing left but to be civil to the woman. They were going to have to work together. Orders she continuously reminded herself. And she obeyed orders.

Liara was the first to look up, the Shadow Broker offering Williams a small smile before refocusing on her omni-tool. Tali too gave her a small, knowing nod as well and went back to the information flowing over the small screen in front of her before the severe visage of a massive Turian stepped up next to her.

"You Williams?" he asked, his mandibles twitching in an approximation of what Garrus had once described as thoughtfulness.

"Council Spectre Ashley Williams reporting as ordered," she confirmed. She contemplated saluting, but technically he wasn't Alliance despite the N7 classification on the breastplate of his armor. Then again, technically she belonged to the Council now. All in all it made things...confusing for her. Being Alliance was one of those rare things she could always count on. The chain of command was...simple. But with the entire galaxy in upheaval there were few things that were simple these days.

"Right...ordered." His eyes flicked over to where Anderson still stood conferring with some of the other remaining senior strategists. "You gonna have any trouble following orders, Spectre? I've got no room for Council errand boys going lone wolf on me. There's too many new faces around here as it is." He gestured to the other Normandy crew members.

She followed his movement, meeting the emotionless, icy blue eyes of Miranda when she did. There was nothing, no flicker of jealousy or annoyance on the woman's face. Whatever mask she managed to pull down to keep things from showing, it was damned effective.

Ash nodded, never tearing her eyes off Miranda. "No problem. I'm a marine first and foremost, sir."

The Turian Colonel grunted. Satisfied or not, he went back to the table and his briefing.

"As I was saying, our infiltrator is already in position and reporting enemy contacts and movement. With any luck we'll have up to the minute intelligence from Miss Goto when the diversionary attack commences." The hologram shifted, zooming in and peeling away layers to show an intricate, interconnected network of tunnels beneath London's streets. "This is our route," he said, highlighting a particular path through the maze. "It _should _bring us within an eighth of a mile of the transport beam. Unfortunately there's no way to predict the condition of those passages given the fighting or what, if any, enemy presence we may encounter. Miss Zorah." He glanced up to look at the Quarian. We're gonna hit some security doors along the way. My engineers promise me they can handle it, but given your experience I'm going to defer to you. Get them open as fast as possible."

Tali nodded, threading her fingers together. "Right," she said. "No problem."

"Once we hit the surface again it'll be a foot race. No stopping. We push right through to the beam. Don't wait and don't stop to engage not matter what happens. Just keep going. With any luck Hammer will have drawn them off to the east and we'll have it relatively easy. Admiral Anderson's also _supposed _to coordinate with Sword fleet and with any luck we'll get a small orbital bombardment in the area before we make our run. But don't hold your breath."

A purple tinged Asari crossed her arms and frowned. "If this gets us so close why didn't Shepard's attack use the tunnels in the first assault?" she asked, never looking away as she studied the myriad sewers and maintenance shafts crisscrossing the city.

The Colonel held a talon up to his face, thoughtfully looking at the display. "The first attempt was meant as a straightforward push. Overwhelm them with surprise and speed. The tunnels are an unknown variable and can't support large numbers of troops. It was deemed...too time sensitive. We're going to go about it differently this time."

"Roles?" asked a dark skinned human with a goatee cradling a weathered Kestrel helmet.

Lakine nodded. "N7's are in the lead and I have operational control in the field. Major Vasquez," he started, nodding to the man who'd just spoken, "is my second leading team two. Our squads have worked together before and will supply the initial punch and carry the bulk of the load. I know you are all highly capable, but for now we'll leave it at that. I've already placed Miss Lawson in charge of the additional personnel. She'll be reporting to me." Miranda nodded, but the Turian was already shooting a glare at Ashley. "Will that be a problem?"

She grit her teeth but managed to force a, "Not at all, sir."

"Fantastic." He eyed her for a moment longer before redirecting it over the rest of the group. "Review the mission outline and get back to me with any questions or comments. Otherwise get your gear together and beg, borrow, or steal anything you don't already have. You've got fifteen minutes."

The group broke up fairly quickly once dismissed. The marines and military personnel leaving to brief their own smaller units while what was left of the former Normandy crew left to take care of last minute details. It left only two people standing on opposite sides of the display, arms crossed and staring back at one another.

"Miss Lawson," the Lieutenant Commander greeted icily.

"Spectre Williams." The two stared for another few moments before Miranda dropped her arms to her sides, exhaling. "Are we going to have a problem? You don't necessarily need to like me, but we're going to bloody well need to be able to work together."

Ash scoffed. "You'll just have to excuse me for doubting the loyalty of a terrorist who _just _switched allegiances. It can be a little...confusing where you stand."

The other woman's eyes narrowed slightly. "Despite what you may think, I have the best interests of the galaxy as a whole in mind. Cerberus became a monster unlike anything I'd _ever _have wanted to be affiliated with. I left them as soon as that became apparent." When Williams didn't respond, instead choosing to continue glaring she ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "Look," she said, "John trusted me. He still trusts me. I suggest you find a way to do the same. This is no time for petty squabbles."

Ash growled in the back of her throat. John? She clenched her hands into fists and then released them, feeling the anger rising in the back of her throat. "Is there anything else?"

Miranda crossed her arms over her chest again, not backing down. "I question the decision to include you at all in this given the injuries you've suffered. See to it that they don't slow us down. Other than that, no. We're through."

Watching the woman stride away the Spectre eventually let the tension go, releasing a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as she unclenched her fists. She leaned forward, resting her hands on the edge of the table and blew out another exasperated breath. The woman _was_ prickly and unapproachable to an unbelievable level and she _had _been an unquestioning supporter of Cerberus, but was she attributing her own failures to the woman? She _did _provide a convenient scapegoat. Blaming her for instigating a romance with a man she all but abandoned couldn't exactly be blamed. Right? Hell, for all she knew the Commander had more than reciprocated. It was something they'd never talked about.

Still, she'd surely done some reprehensible things in her time under the Illusive Man. The dead body of Admiral Kahoku sprang to mind.

In the end though he'd chosen her. Shepard had made his decision. That would have to be enough.

She traced the yellow path highlighted in the hologram with her eyes, tracing its turns as it made its way through the city before surfacing and eventually ending at the jutting, curved armature of the Citadel beam itself.

He'd chosen her. Not the perfect woman. Her.

"We're coming, Shepard," she whispered. "Just hang on a bit longer."

* * *

><p>Rounds slammed into his cover, peppering the far side and beginning to dent the sheets of metal inwards simply on volume of fire alone.<p>

"EDI, I could _really _use some good news right about now!"

Shepard threw his last grenade blindly over the barricade he was pressed against, feeling the heat wash over top a couple seconds later alongside the clatter of shrapnel spraying the other side of the metal desks. To his right Samara flared, the familiar blue energy swirling around her as a Singularity crackled into being behind the cratered doorway three Cerberus troops were taking cover in. A moment later the explosion from a second biotic field brought down half the entry portal, crushing all three of the lazily floating men as well as an engineer that had been hastily trying to set up an auto turret to defend them.

As soon as the C-Sec main computer was accessed enemy forces had come down on the squad like a hammer when the outside intrusion had been detected, flooding into the facility and pushing their way into the main hall in a matter of minutes and past the first array of obstacles and barricades the Krogan had erected. They'd been stopped cold there by a combination of biotics and the sheer brute strength and power of Aralakh, but things were tenuous. They had an entire Citadel full of enemies that could potentially be brought to bear, not to mention the two Reapers currently making a mess of one of the wards.

The one bright spot was that the computer security wasn't enough to foil EDI's efforts at forcing her way into the system, but it _was _managing to slow her down. Against the onrush of a jumbled mix of Cerberus and Reaper forces, the group was slowly falling back towards the stairs that led up to the second level and the control room where EDI was still busily working.

"I am going as fast as is currently possible given the circumstances," came EDI's typically straightforward reply. As always, it was odd to hear such an even, emotionless voice set against the sounds of the raging battle. "The current task is estimated at eighty three percent completion."

"Less talking," came a strained voice over the coms. A sharp zip overhead made Shepard duck instinctively as a mass accelerated sniper round perforated a Cannibal's forehead, exiting out the back and managing to slam into a Marauder that had been following close behind. "More shooting," the Turian finished. "Not like there's not enough to go around." Two more rounds whizzed overhead in rapid succession, cleanly striking another Cerberus Engineer and Cannibal.

Another wave of enemies fell under the combined efforts of the team, mainly Husks, Cannibals, and Cerberus shock troops, but there were increasingly tougher units like the Centurions and Marauders appearing now. Thankfully the heavy artillery hadn't shown up yet. Holding ground would be next to impossible with Brutes and Ravagers to deal with.

Shepard picked apart another pair of husks as they broke away from the pack, ducking back down just long enough to expel the spent heat sink and chamber a new one before he was back up, sweeping a wide arcing biotic lift across as many targets as he could handle. From somewhere behind him Jack or one of her proteges sent them flying against the far wall with a sickening crunch.

Somewhere off to his far right he heard a gleeful Grunt roar again between the pounding of his shotgun.

More spewed forth from the partially collapsed entry, several dropping instantly as they were met by the defender's small arms. Another heat sink clattered away amongst the small pile of discarded ones Shepard was amassing before an infamous groan sounded right next to him.

The fact that a husk had managed to get through the overlapping fields of fire was more worrisome than the actual danger it represented. They could get through. The message was simple. There were simply too many targets to set up an adequate line of defense and keep everything at bay.

Reaching up he grabbed the creature's collar, pulling it over the metal structure one handed before its claws could find purchase and slamming him into the ground at his feet. The orange-red omni blade snapped into being almost instantly, punching straight down in one smooth motion into the wriggling, scrambling Husk. Despite the massive trauma it kept fighting back though, one of its claws slicing a quarter inch groove out of his shoulder pauldron before the holographic projection came down again, practically severing the spine and head clean off. Thankfully the struggling stopped after that.

Shepard stopped to survey the battle. In the chaos and noise they could very well have lost half the squad and he'd have never known it. Samara was still nearby and still utterly composed despite the piles of husks accumulating forward of her position. Wrex and two of his Urdnot clan members were half a dozen yards to the Commander's left, holding the flank against heavy resistance. Grunt and the other Krogan were likewise on the far right side, leaving Jack and her troops to provide support where it was needed while Garrus directed precise fire down from above in the mainframe office with EDI overlooking them all.

It was still a good plan, a solid defense. Hold the line and fall back to successive lines of defense as necessary. The enemy was funneled through the single entrance, providing a somewhat manageable amount of targets as the narrow corridor beyond limited their number. Or at least the plan had been sound until the Commander felt the first thud vibrate through the entire room.

"The fuck was that?" Jack asked immediately from somewhere behind him.

A second loud thump hit immediately, again slightly shaking the room and directing Shepard's eyes to a large crack that had formed on one of the room's solid walls near Wrex and his troops. Parts of it were already beginning to bend towards them.

"EDI? Status?"

The wall buckled again, several loose pieces of the duracrete and composites falling away as cracks spidered and spread over its face.

"Ninety four percent complete, Commander."

The next impact bent a large section of the wall ominously inwards toward Shepard and the rest of the team. Now loose debris was practically flying off it at them, peppering the nearest defenders with every strike. Whether it was thirty seconds or five minutes left whatever _that _was was getting in one way or another.

"Not good enough," he said, shaking his head. "Okay, shit. Wrex, pivot left and divide your force. We're about to have another door to defend. Jack, you and your team hit whatever comes through with everything you've got. I want everyone to start falling back by squads to the staircase. Computer room is our Alamo."

Grunt's voice sounded over the roar of his weapon and another strike by whatever was attempting to breach the wall. "Alamo?"

"Human battle on Earth," Garrus said over the radio before Shepard could reply. You could hear the snap and hiss over the coms as he ejected another spent sink, "Several centuries back. A group of defenders were surrounded by a vastly numerically superior enemy force and attacked."

"Hah! Sounds like my kind of fight."

"Yeah," came the Turian's quick response, "and every last one of them was wiped out. Can I vote we call it something else?"

"Okay, bad metaphor." Shepard stood, the Justicar rising to join him as they began flooding the left flank with fire so Wrex and his group could begin to fall back. He let loose a booming shockwave that ripped apart a portion of the cover the Krogan had been using, scattering any pursuing enemies. "Let's go with rally point then. Now _move_!"

The wall finally gave completely when Wrex had made it to Shepard's position, exploding inward and throwing Urdnot Marz violently over the nearest barricade, tumbling ungainly as his armor met ground and then the hard metal of another desk. Dust and smoke choked the wall and part of the room, flowing in from some still unseen space on the other side of the explosion and gaping void. Almost immediately silhouettes could be seen through the haze though, climbing in. One in particular looked particularly ominous as the level of weapons fire began to grow again.

"_Shit, _Atlas," came the call from Garrus. His rifle barked and downed one of the troopers climbing through the jagged hole. "Unless you managed to bring some heavy weapons I don't know about I'd get the hell out of there if I was you." His rifle ratcheted again and fired.

"Jack, Samara, see what you can do to slow that thing down. Wrex," the giant, scarred Battlemaster turned just enough that one of his giant red eyes could see the Commander, "we need to get to Marz and get the hell..."

The autocannon on the mech's right arm cycled up, spitting a stream of explosive death across the room as it finally cleared the rubble and smoke its entrance had created. Shepard dropped a moment before Wrex, flattening themselves to the floor even as one round glanced off the back of the Krogan's armor, digging a deep gouge before ricocheting away. Instantly biotics of every nature began raining down on the Cerberus heavy weapon, staggering it but not breaking through its heavy shields.

The problem wasn't necessarily its cannon though. Not even its guided rockets. The problem was, it could force them to stay still and keep their heads down while they were encircled by the troops and other forces behind it. The Commander, Wrex, and the third Krogan, Vreel, couldn't afford to stay where they were despite the rain of weapons fire.

Shepard glanced at Wrex. "We're gonna have to take our chances," he said. The battlemaster nodded and glanced at the other Urdnot soldier. He too nodded his agreement, fingering his machine gun. Closing his eyes for a second and taking a deep breath Shepard began counting back from three.

When he reached one the roar of an enraged Krogan coupled with a sudden redirection of the autocannon's aim made him pause. Wrex was already looking over what was left of their meager cover. His similar, reactionary roar made the Commander shift to get himself a better view of the room.

Marz, the Clan Urdnot warrior who'd been sent flying earlier had barreled into the Atlas, grabbing hold of its right arm and swinging it, still firing, into the Cerberus support ranks behind it. A dozen already lay bleeding, crumpled over whatever cover they'd been slaughtered next to. The cannon ceased fire, its pilot finally reacting as it began trying to dislodge the angry biped. Cerberus troopers and Centurions were also beginning to pepper the defenseless alien with small arms fire, coming out of cover as they realized the friendly fire had ceased.

Shepard raised his Vindicator and put two three round bursts through the heads of two separate soldiers before he was bodily lifted off the ground and carried off by the leader of Clan Urdnot. "Come on!" the Krogan bellowed, moving as fast as someone his size could manage. "He's buying us time."

Wrex knew his trooper was already dead.

Sure enough, the fellow Krogan was already down on one knee, his regenerative abilities proving unable to keep up with the massive number of injuries he was sustaining. With a mechanical groan the machine finally managed to extricate itself from his death grip, pulling its right arm up and away and pivoting slightly in place, bringing its pincer arm around.

The Commander and the other two Krogan had gotten to the bottom of the stairs when it picked the dying alien up and began crushing it, armor and bone audibly snapping under the force. Urdnot Marz didn't even have the strength left to scream out or issue a final, defiant roar. Within seconds his lifeless body was flung awkwardly away, landing in a far corner like a piece of refuse.

Jack, Samara, and the rest of the squad's biotics immediately began launching attacks back on the Atlas and the Cerberus and Reaper forces grouped around the smoking room. Before he mounted the stairs leading up Shepard issued a rudimentary Overload command at the mech. Every military grade omni tool came with such a program built in, but he was beginning to regret never asking Tali to help him upgrade his. Garrus launched a similar, much more powerful program above him, sending a cascade of crackling energy over the skin of the machine.

Still, the shields held.

They finally made it to the top of the stairs and the hastily thrown together defenses as the machine completed its turn, opening up again with its main weapon on their position. Shepard darted around the corner that separated the upper level and the short, enclosed hallway that led to the mainframe's office, finding safety. Wrex and Vreel managed to get to patches of cover of their own, preparing to defend the high ground.

At least on the upper floor they were safe from the Cerberus mech and being surrounded. Granted, it also had no available exit for them once EDI was done hacking her way into the Citadel's controls. It was a problem he'd need to start considering now that they were largely trapped.

Garrus was looking over the android's shoulder when the Commander entered the control room, moving low to avoid any potshots by enemy snipers through the large view windows. The Turian turned around and nodded, straightening up and moving back to his position next to a table piled high with thermal clips. Taking his vacated space Shepard asked, "Status? EDI, give me anything."

"Control has been acquired," she replied. "I am in command of Citadel Security systems, currently accessing C-Sec's automated defenses."

The nearby Turian fired and brought his rifle down, blinking at the android. "Automated defenses? Are we talking mechs?"

"Correct." EDI's fingers continued flying over the holographic keys.

"They weren't already destroyed in the fighting?"

She mechanically shook her head in the negative. "Citadel Security was locked out of their systems when the Reapers took control. They were not able to activate their remaining security droids at that time."

"How many," Shepard asked, crossing the room to glance down at the main hall below, still breathing hard.

The emotionless face of EDI's avatar glanced over from the screen at him. "One hundred and eighty two standard LOKI class patrol droids as well as a platoon size complement of heavy YMIR class mechs."

Garrus issued a low whistle from beside him and went back to sighting through his scope.

Shepard returned to her, looking over her shoulder at the display. "Where?"

"Arms Locker BL42-6, Level 42..." she trailed off when she looked again at the Commander's face. "Three floors down, accessible by high speed freight elevator. I can power them remotely from here."

The Commander nodded. "Good, get them here. All of them." He turned to his friend who was still casually picking off targets below when a large enough portion of them presented itself. "Garrus, you want a chance to show off?"

The Turian arched an eyebrow, his mandible flexing in question.

"I've got a plan."

* * *

><p><em>AN: So obviously my Shepard romanced Ashley in ME 1 and is at least partially biotic. Now you also know Miranda stepped in to comfort him following her spurning him on Horizon in ME2. Not sure how far we'll run with that angle, but I wanted to play around with it a bit and include plenty of the other squad members. Didn't want Williams to just disappear and not really be involved. Same goes for Miranda and Tali. Thoughts?_

_I also realize that I'd originally envisioned this as something around 4 chapters, but this fic is fairly fluid. There's no outline or formal structure and is changing around some as I go. As a result, adding this N7/Normandy members unit will add more length. Is it worth it? Let me know._


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks for the patience with me. Its certainly been longer than I wanted since the last post._

_Thanks to those who have left a review. Be sure to keep leaving them, I love hearing what you guys think. I'm curious to know what you think about my approach and whether I'm fairly close in accurately depicting the various characters. Let me here it. _

_A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to the Mass Effect Universe. I'm just here playing in their sandbox._

* * *

><p>With control finally attained EDI was finally free to join the rest of the troops in repelling the enemy forces still surging towards their last bastion of safety, joining Garrus in concentrating on the Atlas' still significant shielding by lending her own disrupter rounds and tech attacks to his efforts. The rest of the group just concentrated on not being overrun by the Cerberus troopers and occasional rush of Husks. With the unused security mechs slowly but inexorably on their way it was just a matter of time until the Commander's group had backup.<p>

Not that Shepard wanted to wait that long. Who could predict what other surprises Cerberus and the Reapers could come up with in that time as well? As a soldier he'd never been one to sit back on defense. Never one to be reactionary. No, if possible they were going on the attack. They were going to dictate the battle.

The mechs were nothing but a backup plan.

Their first good news came when the energy systems of the giant mech finally overloaded and vented from the constant electrical attacks, the shield emitter smoking from the barrage as the energy crackled and finally dissipated. That just left its armor. A whole, whole lot or armor.

At least armor they could deal with.

Shepard ducked back behind the supply crate he'd been using for cover. "Garrus!" he called over the team's comm channel. "You're up. Pilot's all yours. Make it quick." The Commander glanced to the side and up into the intense expression of the former felon kneeling next to him, her wide brown eyes meeting his. "Jack, you sure you're up for this? That's quite a jump."

Her usual expressive sneer split her face. "Fucking relax already, boy scout. For the last time, piece of cake. Besides, this'll be fun." Her expression morphed into that thin predatory grin of hers. "I've never done something this batshit crazy before."

Before he could respond the familiar bark of a Mantis split the air from inside the next door computer room. Glancing again over the crate he watched as the entire Atlas seem to twitch and droop. As often as he saw it displayed Garrus' prowess and precision never ceased to amaze him.

"Pilot's down," came the familiar twang of the Turian's voice.

"You're sure."

"As far as I know there's not a species in the galaxy that can keep going when they're missing a head," he said. "Well, maybe Vorcha, but I can't say I've ever seen them drive a mech..."

"Garrus," Shepard interrupted him.

"Right, clean shot, right between the eyes. He's done." He paused then, the only sound besides the constant snap and roars of gunfire being the hiss of an ejecting heat sink over the comms. "I may have made a bit of a mess though, sorry Jack."

To Shepard's right she just grinned darkly and shrugged.

"Covering fire," the Commander barked. "Jack's on the move. I want grenades twenty yards out. Centurions, Marauders, and Engineers are the priority, but keep their heads down."

Further along their impromptu firing line two of the Krogan roared and rose, unleashing streams of fire on the scrambling enemies as EDI detonated on incendiary charge amidst a group of three Cannibals, setting them alight and scrambling in panic. Jack and Shepard straightened up, the Commander launching a biotic attack before raising and sighting down his rifle. A Centurion, his shields already depleted, crumpled to the ground with his first burst.

"Jack, go!"

The crackle and woosh of the air rushing to fill the vacuum left by her sudden disappearance was followed a fraction of a second later by a crimson streaked blur as she charged across the room, slamming into the Atlas' cockpit and sending a cascade of glittering safety glass exploding outward from her impact. Quickly she went to work, reaching in to unstrap and yank the limp soldier inside out of the giant suit.

It didn't take long for the enemy to catch on with what was happening though. Shielded by much of the mech's bulk and supported by her allies firing down on them she wasn't an easy target, but they were damn well going to give it their best shot. Impacts begin smacking into the heavy steel and armor around her as she worked, gouging out portions of the material as the slugs embedded themselves.

"How bout some _help _here," she managed through gritted teeth. "I didn't sign up to get fucking shot in the back."

"Grenades out," Shepard said, tossing his final fragmentation device amongst a group of Reaper troops trying to circle around the Atlas for a better shot at the biotic. Grenades from Garrus, and the Krogan joined his and shredded them and a similar group on the mech's opposite flank, leaving just the indirect, inaccurate fire from the remaining forces still flooding into the room.

With a grunt and a final tug, the former pilot fell out of the machine, the small, tattooed woman scrambling inside and spinning in place to grab the controls. The giant beast took a step forward and began to turn.

"Oh, it's _so _my turn you little pricks." The autocannon began spinning up. "Eat..._this_!"

The first Cerberus trooper she hit was nearly cut in half, the heavy, armor piercing slugs ripping through him and into his comrades. Having seen that everyone else was quickly scrambling to get to cover. In the large open hall though the remaining debris and obstacles were mostly, well...destructible.

A missile engulfed one flipped work desk, sending a group of enemies flying. The heavy gun cycled up again quickly afterward, stitching a line across the floor and through several pieces of furniture before Jack unleashed another missile into a Brute that had appeared in the far doorway. The creature exploded, sending sharpened pieces of shrapnel spinning into the crowded hall and chopping down even more of the reinforcements.

The Commander put two bursts from his Vindicator into the chest of a straggler and lowered the weapon. "Wrex," he called. "Fire support. Get your boys down there into a firing line. Biotics, herd them. Keep them in front of Jack and the Krogan. All units, on the offensive." He launched his own shockwave down the closest perimeter wall, sending a group of cannibals diving out of the way and into Jack's fire where they were cut down.

Nevermind the stairs, the Krogan hurled themselves over the railing and dropped down to the lower level, marching forward under sporadic fire to join up with the Atlas and press on the attack. By now even the normally fearless indoctrinated units were falling back under the pressure.

With things seemingly coming under control and the enemy falling back and being herded into a slaughter by the entry hall Shepard was finally able to get his first good look at the second access point that the Atlas itself had smashed in the wall earlier. Thankfully only the mech and a small complement of Cerberus forces had made use of it as it now stood empty, revealing a side corridor that headed back the opposite direction from the room's other entrance.

"What're you thinking, Shepard?" Garrus asked as he came up to his side. He folded his Mantis and attached it to one of his armor's hard points in exchange for the Mattock. "I recognize that look. You're scheming."

The Commander glanced at him and then peered back into the hole. "Those security mechs will be here soon and will hit Cerberus and the Reapers from behind. That could prove to be a pretty convenient diversion for us. This," he said, pointing to the gaping, crumbling hole in the wall, "might be our best way out of here. We wouldn't have to go through them. Even with their attention divided that would be a pain."

"I get it," the Turian said, his mandibles flexing in thought. "Sneak attack. Keep the enemy thinking we're here fighting them, but get away to surprise them somewhere else like...oh, say, the Presidium Tower. Not a very Turian strategy, but I like it. It's devious."

A roaring Krogan made both of them glance over towards the skirmish line as the giant reptiles broke through the last of the hastily constructed defenses with Jack and her raging war machine following close behind. The small group of biotics, now led by Samara, were bringing up the rear, moving from cover to cover to avoid any lucky shots, but hammering the retreating enemy in their own way with lethal effect.

"You know," Garrus said in the relative silence, "They could really use those security droids on the Wards. We could still probably sneak away even without them and redirect at least some of them that way. I mean, do we really need them now that we have Jack and her little toy?" He looked back to watch the rear of the Atlas stoop to fit into the entry to the connecting space. "I just don't like the idea of leaving those people out there to die. Not if there's some way we can help. Hell, I probably know quite a few of them from my days in C-Sec. Believe me when I say they're not equipped to handle this." He kicked the corpse of a Cannibal at his feet. "No matter what you gave Citadel Security to try and prepare them."

It wasn't a role he relished, but it was one he knew was vitally necessary. The Commander made the hard decisions. They all knew and accepted that. Here...now...and probably ever since the discovery of Sovereign's true purpose he'd been doing it whether it was asked of him or not. As unwelcome and distasteful as it may be somebody had to. Somebody had to suffer the sleepless nights.

"I know, Garrus," he finally whispered. Shepard patted his friend's armored shoulder a couple times and walked past him towards the front of the room. "I don't like it either, but they buy us time and draw off the enemy. Tactically we need them. As long as they keep the fight here it won't be at the Tower." He looked at the ground and sighed sadly. "The Reapers are slaughtering us from one end of the galaxy to the other. God knows how many millions have already fallen, much less how many more will die. Garrus," he turned around and met the Turian's eyes, pouring all his resolve into his look. "We either end it here or it doesn't matter what we try to do to help those people. That's just the way it is. There is _nothing _else until this is done. Can you live with that?"

Garrus nodded without hesitation, but didn't meet the Commander's eyes. "You know I'm with you, Shepard. All the way to the end. Whatever that means. Let's just make it count and wipe every last one of the bastards out."

It was Shepard's turn to nod. "When the mechs arrive and begin their attack pull back Wrex and his guys. They won't be happy about it, but he'll understand. We'll have to leave the Atlas behind too. As much as I want those guns with us its size and lack of maneuverability will be a liability." He sighed and stretched his neck. "Until then what say we see if we can't find an armory to stock back up. I'll have EDI get us a map of the complex or something. Grenades, heavy weapons, upgrades, weapon mods...anything we can find. I want us as ready as we can be for the final push."

* * *

><p>"Alright, I'm done. Door's opening," Tali said, scooting back away in the darkness from the green status panel as the ancient gears of the rusted pressure door creaked into action.<p>

Above, the muffled thumps of explosions and impacts could be heard occasionally rattling loose some dust or pieces of the crumbling ceiling. Good to his word Admiral Hackett had managed to sneak a pair of New Delhi class cruisers into low orbit to shell the battlefield. A squadron of Trident fighters was even provided for close air support and air superiority missions to aid the fight. The diversionary force gearing up to enter the fray above may not have been as large or well trained as Hammer's first strike force had been, but they at least had some support from above carving them a path.

In the end though, it was up to the strike team, dubbed Arrow, that Tali was moving through the old sewers with. The diversionary units would only dash halfway to the Citadel beam before they pretended to be halted by the enemy and settled into a defensive retreat. It was hoped that by utilizing the vacuum left behind by Reaper forces pursuing Hammer, Arrow would be able to reach their objective.

Colonel Lakine led the way, his Phaeston held up at the ready as the massive door groaned and parted to either side. One by one the individual squads moved up, maintaining a safe tactical separation as they swept forward through London's old sewer system.

Having grown up in the Migrant Fleet Tali hadn't been sure what to expect down here. Things like this were still so new to her. Pipes large enough to fit a group the size of the one she was currently a part of were all but inconceivable on even a vessel the size of a Quarian live ship. It was just...unnecessary, not to mention that it would have been a colossal waste of space. Besides, her people recycled most of their bodily fluids and waste within their own survival suits. Other races considered the practice disgusting. Quarians considered it a way of life.

What she did find disgusting though was the thigh deep water they were having to trudge through. Thankfully she could turn her olfactory sensors off and try to avoid thinking about what else might be in the liquid and sludge. She'd never been happier for her helmet or felt more sorry for Ashley, Liara, and the rest of the team that had to suffer through it.

Okay, perhaps she was slightly less sorry for Miranda.

The dark, branching system of tunnels also turned out to be just as large a maze as they'd thought they could be, slowing their progress dramatically. Cave ins or damage had already made it necessary to detour twice, taking longer more circuitous routes to reach their eventual destination.

But at least they hadn't run into any Reaper forces yet. Already nightmarish enough to fight as it was in broad daylight, they'd be downright terrifying down here. Like something straight out of a nightmare.

"Another pressure door ahead," the Colonel called from up ahead of them somewhere in the darkness. "Quarian, you're up. Second and third squads assault positions. Normandy team in reserve."

Tali rolled her eyes at the gruff Turian's seeming inability to actually use her name but proceeded forward dutifully to hack yet another door. As she passed Ashley she noticed the woman still fidgeting in the dark with her assault rifle. The slow progress and their squad's delegation as nothing more than a reserve unit were chafing the Spectre. Her unofficial, but still fairly well known relationship status with Shepard certainly couldn't be helping things for her either.

Once upon a time Tali probably would have begrudged what Williams and Shepard had. Back when they'd been scouring the galaxy for Saren she'd been infatuated with him, his inner fire and charisma drawing her to him. Of course she also hadn't been the only one either.

Two years, a lot of mileage, and several eye opening missions for the fleet opened her eyes to a lot and forced her to grow up in quite a few ways. She'd been more than a little juvenile on the first Normandy and had come to recognize it as such, including her puppy love for their commanding officer. The Commander would be her lifelong friend, of that she was sure. Someone she'd defend to her death and value as long as time permitted. She loved him but had come to terms long ago with the fact that his heart belonged to another.

That it wasn't the former Cerberus ice queen made things even easier to digest too. Tali actually liked Ashley despite the woman's initial mistrust of her species.

For the sixth time her intrusion software packets made quick work of the primitive encryption protocols for the door's locking mechanism. Within thirty seconds of firing up her omni tool the enormous steel barriers were parting and she again stepped back to allow the assault squads room to clear the next section of sewer.

The unexpected whine of the mechanism caused the Brute crouched on the other side to turn curiously, staring at the assembled team in front of it as the door opened further. For a fraction of a second the allied forces stared back. Then all hell broke loose.

"Sentry!" screamed Lakine, opening up with his Phaeston on full automatic. At the current range he wasn't going to miss. The Reaper construct reared back, rising to its full height and bellowing as the rest of the commandos scrambled to respond. The Brutes first swipe was slow and badly aimed, the surprise of the sudden intrusion still keeping it off balance. The Colonel managed to sidestep it, retreating back with the other squads as they leapfrogged backward through the sludge. Tali hugged the wall and let the creature pass as it pursued them, trying to come up with any kind of a plan.

In these close quarters with very little cover or room to maneuver the heavily armored tank was going to be all but impossible to take down conventionally. It was also going to decimate the unit with its close proximity. Ordinarily if you let a Brute get this close to you you were in real trouble. Down here, with nowhere to run, it was time to panic. So Tali did the only thing she could think of. She deployed Chiktikka.

Before it could fully manifest though she watched in horror as the Brute's clawed arm lashed out again as it again charged the retreating troopers, finally catching the human engineer attached to Lakine's squad and crushing him brutally into the wall of the tunnel, cracking and splintering the aged permacrete. Tali didn't need to be a medic to know the way he flopped limply back to the ground meant he was likely already dead.

Her drone went to work almost immediately though, floating in front of its face before delivering a thousand volts directly into the indoctrinated monster's nervous system. That grabbed its attention quickly enough despite the constant weapon's fire peppering it. Time to open up some space for the others to operate. Tali spun the shimmering construct around and accelerated it away, back down the tunnel towards her and the pressure doors she'd opened only seconds before. Maybe, just maybe, she could get it back through and close the doors after it.

The Brute roared again in anger and followed, galloping after it and nearly trampling one of the two Krogan in the team in its rampage after the little floating orb. As both closed on her, three things struck Tali almost simultaneously. First, that she really had no plan past sending Chiktikka vas Paus into the fray and luring the creature away from the others. Second, that the Brute was actually fast enough to catch the small drone, sending it popping and fizzling before it winked out in its grasp. And finally, that she was still standing nearby with her omni tool illuminated as the monster turned to glare at her.

"Quarian, _move_!" roared the Colonel from down the pipe.

At the same time a bright biotic corona swirled into being around Liara as she began pushing back through the dirty water toward her, screaming, "_Tali_," in horror.

She dumbly tried to redeploy her diversion again only to have her omni tool bleat a warning that there wasn't enough kinetic energy built back up yet for another go. In one smooth motion she drew her Katana instead despite the knowledge that it would have little real effect on the behemoth.

Rearing back the Brute charged her, its giant clawed right arm pulled back to strike. It found nothing in its way though, slamming headlong into the crumbling permacrete, leaving a foot deep crater and sending a small explosion of dirty water, dust, and debris back across the pipe before swinging back around to find the diminutive Quarian's head poking up out of the brownish sludge. It growled low as she rose again.

"Missed me, you stupid bosh'tet," she said, smirking from beneath her dripping mask. The creature howled and took a giant step towards her. Then another. Tali's smile only grew, her omni tool flashing into existence as she overloaded the control panel on the far side of the tunnel behind the Brute, sending the massive pressure doors slamming closed on it as the emergency security protocols automatically reacted.

Far from being dead, the Reaper's servant struggled, twisting against the incredible weight and force exerted by the doors as it bellowed to the point that it was actually prying and ripping off armor plates and giant pieces of flesh in its attempts to free itself. It roared again, glaring down at Tali as she stood in front of it, staring right back in bewilderment.

Now what? Her Katana still felt pretty much useless in her hands.

"I think that's my queue," said a disembodied voice from nearby. A second later the air shimmered and sparked as Kasumi emerged into being climbing and twisting her way up the still moving creature before coming to a kneeling stop atop its humped, armored back. In one smooth stroke she pulled out her Japanese short sword, spinning it deftly twice before sliding it downward, point first between the Brute's armored plates and neatly severing its spinal column from whatever was left of its brain.

The creature dropped instantly and went still, leaving a tiny, grinning, hooded Japanese woman standing casually astride its shoulder blade as she wiped sickly bluish-purple blood from the blade of her sword. In her typical exuberant manner the thief hopped down as the others stalked the last few yards warily back towards them led by Ashley and Liara.

The Colonel's remaining two squad members crouched next to their fallen comrade further back in the tunnel before reaching the same conclusion Tali had feared, sadly stripping him of his weapons and omni tool and rising to join the others.

Lakine himself approached Tali, facing the dead Brute as the scarred, one-eyed Krogan Battlemaster attached to Falco's second squad poked it with his Claymore.

"That was..."

"I think the word you're looking for is spectacular." Kasumi grinned from beneath her hood nearby, revealing bright white teeth above the small bit of red makeup she always seemed to wear on her lower lip.

"...impressive," he corrected. The tall, armored Turian shot the small human female a glare before finally turning to address Tali directly. "Your quick thinking is to be commended, Quarian. Things could have gone much worse for us."

"You'll find I'm capable of quite a bit besides hacking the occasional door," she spat, the adrenaline bleeding off. She turned slightly and gestured to the rest of the ex-Normandy crew members, even including Miranda alongside the others. "We all are. You might want to keep in mind that we've been fighting Reapers since before you even knew they existed." She turned to climb over the downed Brute alongside the rest of the assault team, passing an Asari that was trying to hide a small smile. "Oh," she said, turning back around on the Turian Colonel, "and my _name_ is Tali Zorah vas Normandy, Turian. I should think you capable of remembering that."

* * *

><p>The rest of the slog through the London underground proved equally eventful. Twice more the group fell upon Reaper sentries, positioned to hinder an attack as well as act as an early warning device. Now prepared and forewarned because of their first encounter, the two Brutes were dealt with quickly and in an organized, professional manner by the combined squads.<p>

The ambush, however, that the sentries positioning foretold of and that finally came near the planned exit point near the bank of the River Thames proved far more costly.

Luckily, the force that attacked them wasn't overwhelming. Not completely. The distant noises of battle to the north meant Ashley and the rest of the allied team probably had Hammer to thank for that. But the enemy _did _have surprise and the high ground to their advantage. And they had Banshees.

Nomi Elandrus, the pleasant Salarian sniper went down immediately to Ashley's left, the victim of concentrated fire from two Ravagers that opened up the melee. Dozens of husks, followed up by the floating, eerie former asari constructs flooded down the broken street toward them, putting the allies' backs to the sewers and positioning themselves between the interlopers and the Citadel Beam that glowed brightly, lancing into the darkened sky nearby.

They fought well, the biotics controlling the onrush of husks and sending them arching away in droves as the shockwaves and waves of power carved swathes through their ranks. Meanwhile the soldiers and remaining special ops veterans concentrated on the Banshees, attempting to provide a continuous base of fire to keep the creatures off balance and incapable of charging into their midst. For a while they succeeded, even managing to start forcing their way up the incline toward the city streets and their ultimate objective.

So, it was with horror that Ashley watched the Harvester arrive, slamming to the ground behind their position and cutting them off from any escape back towards the sewers. Its first blast caught a still stunned Asari Spectre named Jurel in her chest, leaving her shields hopelessly depleted. The second blast all but vaporized her.

Then it started disgorging Cannibals.

It didn't take long for the Colonel to make the correct decision after that. Between bursts of his Phaeston he roared, "_Run_!"

Williams pulled Miranda to her feet, glaring at her before she again shouldered her assault rifle and emptied a thermal clip into the nearest massing of charging husks. Then she took off after the rest of her squad. When a Banshee flashed into her path, raising one of its elongated, taloned hands and screeching she slid sideways, avoiding it and stumbling back to her feet before she was off again making for the half destroyed city.

Far to her left the young Clan Urdnot warrior she'd been introduced to lay under a mound of scrabbling husks still bucking, trying desperately to get their weight off of him. A biotic wave from Lieutenant Falco blasted most from atop him, allowing the Krogan to crush the remaining two in his palms before rising only to watch as a Banshee skewered the human from behind with its bare hands, ripping the man in half. Mindless of his orders Drang bellowed and charged the one time Asari. Ashley kept running, firing occasionally from her hip as she darted across the battlefield and on to the city streets after the few others she could still see.

The young Krogan, barely past his own initiation was never seen in one piece again.

Williams caught up to Miranda and the third Spectre that had been a member of the original assault team, a Turian named Divadus, a block away, the ex-Cerberus operative slamming a Cannibal downward into the pavement from twenty yards away as she jogged up. Across the boulevard Liara, Tali, and the old Krogan Battlemaster darted forward under fire from yet another grouping of Reaper forces, returning fire before disengaging and heading further on.

Behind her she could still hear the wheezing of the husks and occasional screech from the Banshees pursuing them. They needed to keep moving. And they needed to get moving _now_.

The group jogged forward, braving the weapons fire and crossing the empty street before clambering over a downed section of crumbling building that blocked their path. A still smoking Mako sat near one corner of the next intersection overlooking the beam emitter itself. Scattered around the vehicle were the bodies of nearly two dozen allied units. Left behind, the mixed makeup of Humans, Turians, Asari, and a single Krogan must have been from the first failed assault.

Colonel Lakine and what remained of a possible second failed attempt were grouped in the tank's shadow. With the three of them hurrying to join back up it brought their number to twelve from the original seventeen. And they hadn't even made it to the Citadel yet.

As Ashley approached Tali came sliding out of the Mako, wiping her hands and shaking her head sadly. "I'm afraid the systems are all fried up," she said, addressing their Turian leader, "but I think the guns look fine. She's not going to be moving anywhere anytime soon though."

Lakine nodded, frowning and looking down the hill. For the first time Ashley really stopped and looked at the small plain that had been carved out around the weird alien device. She could still see where she and Shepard had held out against hope, under fire and beneath the shadow of Harbinger. She could still make out where Vega's body probably still lay. Where the massive Reaper's bulk still lay off to the side, having flattened several city blocks in its death.

Williams took a deep breath.

She hadn't expected to be back here so soon. To really have to relive that all over again. That the Commander had seemed...dead. Again. That she kept fighting and yelling at him while he lay there completely still for what seemed like eons, the tears pouring down her face. That against all odds she'd gotten him back only to lose him again. Only that hadn't happened. The two of them had been spared again only to end up right back.

The next deep breath was deeper and shakier. Then she gasped.

The plain below was moving, shifting as Reaper forces scurried about, protecting the transport point. From their vantage point she could make out several Marauders and plenty of Cannibals. To one side the bulk of a single Brute stood out amongst the smaller shapes.

"Shit," she whispered, turning towards Lakine and Miranda. "We're gonna need to punch a hole through all that? Not to point out the obvious, but without the tank that's not going to be easy."

"And we can't stay here," Liara observed from her side. "If we take too long their friends are going to catch up and crush us. They're likely looking for us even now and it won't take long for them to have deduced our ultimate goal."

The mandibles clicked once before settling into place. The Turian Colonel finally nodded and straightened up. "Agreed. Major," he said, turning to face the other remaining squad leader. "You're taking Squad Three and Four and pushing through to the beam." One of Miranda's eyebrows arched in question at the Normandy crew's inclusion and the rather simplistic plan, but she didn't say anything. "Whatever it takes. Don't slow down. Mavia." He was addressing the lone remaining member of his original squad. The Asari Commando nodded. "You're with Major Vasquez. They're going to need another biotic before this is all done." He turned back to the Major. "I'll take what's left of Squad Two and hold here. Buy you guys some time to get to the beam and lend some help with that." He nodded at the silent armored transport behind them. "Get up there and complete the mission. Find Shepard. We'll..." He glanced at the old Krogan and the Asari sniper he'd included in the group with himself. "...we'll follow when we can."

It went unsaid that the three warriors wouldn't be leaving the crossroads, much less making it to the beam. They all knew it and didn't question it. Instead they parted ways silently, Ashley's team moving down the hill quietly from what little cover there was to the next trying to get as close as possible before things erupted.

When they were within fifty yards the smoothbore cannon on the Mako barked, punching a hole right through the lone Brute before exploding in the group behind it. The tanks autocannon opened up immediately afterward, raking over the scattering units as they scattered, some charging up the hill while others sought shelter. From somewhere D'Ronis' Widow barked twice, taking out two more of the remaining Marauders and further sending the other troops into a directionless frenzy, making more targets for the still firing chaingun.

Then it stopped, the turret swiveling in the opposite direction to take on some other unseen enemy and Ashley ran, pounding forward alongside the others as they broke for the glowing device amid the temporary lull in the defending units. A last glance back the way they'd come showed the Mako awash in husks, the entire tank rocking from their frenzied clawing as the turret continued firing into them. Then she entered the Citadel Beam.

* * *

><p><em>AN: So, yeah...a lot of the N7 guys got taken down. In accordance with movies like The Rock, Aliens, and Under Siege that pretty much HAS to happen. Also, I didn't want things to be a cakewalk. For anyone. People will die, squad members included. Now, as to who might live and who might die...well that I'm not going to tell you._

_Drop me a review. Again, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  
><em>


	5. Chapter 5

_Wow, okay...so it's been a ridiculously long time. Thanks for the patience with me and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to update. I've been concentrating on my other fic only to let this one be overlooked. While I won't guarantee that it won't happen again I do still promise that this WILL get finished so bear with me.  
><em>

_As always, thanks to those who have left a review all those weeks and months ago. Be sure to keep leaving them, I love hearing what you guys think and am curious to know what you think about my approach and whether I'm fairly close in accurately depicting the various characters. Let me hear it. _

_Hopefully you guys haven't gotten tired of all the 'the ending should have been this' fics out there too. Cause this is yet another on.  
><em>

_A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to the Mass Effect Universe. I'm just here playing in their sandbox._

* * *

><p>"Goddess," Liara whispered.<p>

She may have been the first to say anything, but they were certainly all thinking it or something similar. The Citadel was awash in war and destruction, a pair of Reaper Destroyers striding slowly over a couple of the Ward arms the only obvious signs of the death and destruction besides the fires and flashes of distant weapons fire and explosions. With the influx of refugees that meant that tens of millions of humans and aliens were being systematically exterminated right in front of the group that had made it through the beam.

"It's worse than I imagined," said a very quiet Tali.

Ashley simply nodded.

"Alright." The group turned to look at Miranda, realizing the ex-Operative was scrolling through data on her omni-tool. "While I understand there are bound to be some strong emotions here," She pushed a hand through her matted, dirty hair, "we, unfortunately, need to focus. We have an important job to do here and are already behind." Then the brunette frowned, retracing her steps in the holographic data feeds as she looked something over for the second time. "That's...surprising." Her eyes flicked up to the others circling around her. "The C-Sec computers are operational and I've got a wireless link with their servers."

"Shepard," Ashley breathed.

Miranda arched an eyebrow and shot a glance at the Lieutenant Commander but quickly went back to work, keeping her head down while continuing to scan through the scrolling information. "Unknown," she responded. "It _could _be C-Sec officers still holding out, but there's no way to be sure. That area is fairly well overrun by Reaper forces from the look of things."

"What about security cameras?"

Miranda shook her head. "No good. There are over twenty thousand on the Presidium alone. Where do you suggest I start looking?"

Williams just grit her teeth and stared at the horribly gorgeous woman.

"Wait. Can you access Presidium scanners and track bio signatures with their equipment?" Tali asked eagerly, opening her own omni-tool. "That might shed some light on things. We might even be able to find the Commander and his team."

The former Cerberus operative didn't acknowledge her, but the feed switched over to a scan algorithm that she began immediately calibrating. Tali watched over her shoulder, her own omni-tool forgotten as she bounced on her toes.

"There," she finally said, just as Lawson completed her adjustments.

Tali cocked her head curiously...or at least with what Ashley _thought _was curiosity. Honestly, she'd never quite gotten the hang of reading Quarian body language. Not like Shepard. On the first Normandy she'd been distrustful and standoffish to the alien crew members for too long. A fact she regretted now when she saw the way Shepard interacted with those like Garrus, Tali, and Liara that had been there from the beginning.

The Lieutenant Commander actually had quite a few regrets over the last few years. Things she'd have liked to have done differently. Chief among them was turning Shepard down on Horizon. That was a wound that had yet to heal, made all the worse by the fact that it'd really been her doing that had driven him into the attractive arms of the man trap next to her.

"That's...that's a lot actually," the masked alien remarked, shaking her head. "I wasn't expecting nearly that many. We won't be able to tell who's who with that many humans running around. I guess the damage we're seeing isn't as extensive as it looks."

"But the readings are...off," Miranda added, opening a new window over top of the scan results and shaking her head. "Look, something's wrong. They're reading as human, but their life signs are nearly non-existent. Blood pressure, heart rate...they're all at levels more consistent with coma patients than someone alert and ambulatory."

"Cerberus," Liara said quietly. The entire group turned to look at the Shadow Broker. "The Illusive Man was indoctrinating his forces in order to build his army." She gestured to Miranda's omni-tool. "What if the indoctrination progressed rapidly in close proximity to actual Reapers? What if they're all now fully under Reaper control?"

From beside Tali the Turian Spectre's mandibles flexed in what Ashley took to be a sign of unease. "So, you're saying we're fighting the Reapers _and _Cerberus here? That the Illusive Man handed them _another _army?"

"It's possible."

"What about Krogan?" Both Miranda and Tali turned toward Ashley. It wasn't long until she realized the entire group was now watching her. Rather than fidget she set her jaw though and pointed at the woman's omni-tool. "Wrex and a group of his soldiers _were _with Shepard," she managed. "Right? Krogan are rare enough on the Citadel that a group of them might just stick out on the scanners."

Tali nodded as Miranda simply went back to her omni-tool. That she was doing the search at all was all the acknowledgement Ash was likely to get that it was a good idea. A second later though the brunette frowned. Behind her the Quarian did that same head cocking thing again.

"No good," Miranda said, shaking her head as she made another attempt. "We're being...blocked. The scanners are being fed a lot of garbage data to disrupt any accurate readings." Miranda finally gave up and looked at the others. "Either someone is trying to hide from us or they're trying to keep their presence hidden from someone else."

"EDI," Tali said suddenly and excitedly from her side. The bouncing only increased. "I saw her do something similar to Cerberus when they were trying to track the Normandy following our destruction of the Collector Base. She dumped half the extranet into their servers. That _has_to be EDI. She's preventing the Reapers or Cerberus from finding them."

Ashley kept her features schooled, but inside something did a little flip for joy. Shepard was _alive_. He _had _to be. This was conclusive, right?

"Okay, so the Commander's probably alive and his team is likely still pushing forward," the Major said, echoing Williams' thoughts. "What else can you tell me from here though? We need to figure out how best to proceed. We're not gonna be able to help anyone if we can't meet up with them or wind up dead."

"Well, based on the motion trackers enemy units seem to be about as expected. Most are in the Wards killing or harvesting the remaining populace. What's left, while still vastly outnumbering us, are concentrated at vital points...the Presidium Tower, the Energy Distribution Centers, Life Support..." Miranda scowled and tapped something in, causing a red, blinking icon to appear. "Interesting. Logs show that all of the Presidium's security mechs have also been...activated. Transponders and feeds show they're actively engaged with a large number of enemy units outside C-Sec Headquarters."

"Sounds like our Shep's been busy," Kasumi said from...somewhere. Honestly, Ashley couldn't figure out how the tiny woman did it, staying so nondescript even when surrounded by people she wasn't actively trying to hide from. No wonder she was so successful at her trade.

Miranda arched an eyebrow, but nodded. "Yes, that would be my guess as well. It sounds like him." She turned toward Major Vasquez. "What do you think, diversion?"

Williams glared at the ex-Cerberus woman. Despite her Spectre status she was now technically the highest ranking military officer present. If this was any kind of normal military operation she'd be in charge, not the striking brunette and not the army Major. She needed to keep in mind what was at stake though. And who. She was just lucky to be in this position in the first place, best to just play nice and do her job.

Still, once again, it just _had _to be the ex-Cerberus operative and Shepard's ex-lover, didn't it?

For his part the other officer did meet her eyes for the slightest moment before reacting to Lawson, nodding as he hefted his rifle and looked on thoughtfully. "Seems about right," he finally said. "Engage the enemy with an expendable force and keep their attention somewhere you aren't. Besides, from what I know of him, I seriously doubt the Commander would even contemplate a full frontal assault on such an overwhelming enemy. Even with mech support. No, he's not at the Headquarters...at least not anymore."

"Well, primary objective is getting the Citadel arms open," Liara said from behind Ash. The Asari walked forward to stand more centrally in the small circle that had formed as the group worked through the problem. "If we're going to even make use of the Crucible that's _got_to be his priority. We all knew that going in. That means we know his most likely destination."

"Agreed," said Vasquez.

Ash scowled. "So, that means what? The Presidium Tower? Following in Saren's footsteps...so to speak."

Miranda nodded, but said nothing, her eyes scanning back out the viewport overlooking the ongoing battles for the Wards. The whole group was silent for awhile...all likely realizing the monumental task still at hand. Making it up to the Citadel had been just the beginning and already they'd lost almost half their team.

"Bitch of a place to mount an assault," the Major finally remarked quietly. Beside him, the Asari Commando shifted nervously, reaching up to adjust the collar of her blue tinted armor. "Layered and elevated defensive positions as well as plenty of choke points. That's going to be anything but simple. Even for him."

"Shepard will have a plan," Ash replied without hesitation. Memories of his assault on the Citadel before...of their trek up the outside of the tower crossed her mind. Thoughts of what he'd told her of the suicide mission to stop the Collectors. He always came up with something. _Always. _"He'll have a way to get through," she reiterated. "He always does."

"And knowing him, it'll probably be something completely crazy and death defying," Tali murmured. Next to the Quarian Liara and Kasumi smiled faintly. "_And_full of explosions."

Vaquez just watched them for a second before crossing his arms over his chest. "So, how do we proceed then? We agree that we need to link up with Commander Shepard, but problem is...where? He could be just about anywhere on the Presidium at this point and trying to track him is pointless." He paused to let that sink in before glancing at Miranda. "The tower itself?"

Ashley just rolled her eyes squeezing her fist tight at her side.

The other woman considered the problem for a second before finally shrugging. "Unless we can establish radio contact, that's probably our best bet, yes. Logically he's somewhere between the Headquarters and the Tower. That gives us at least a rough estimate."

"Either way he's got a helluva head start on us," the Major commented. "We're gonna have to make up quite a bit of time if we're gonna lend him support."

Miranda's omni-tool sparked back to life, colored dots of enemy forces and mech units dotting an area Ash knew was the plaza outside C-Sec. "If we're at the same location the beam transported Shepard and his team then they're navigating around the Presidium counterclockwise. I'd suggest we go the opposite direction."

"Umm...you know that's the long way," Tali pointed out, her own omni-tool ablaze with schematics of the space station's central ring. "Right?"

Miranda nodded. "But with Shepard and the mechs engaged with the Reaper forces and drawing attention..._hopefully_..."

The strategic importance of that immediately hit Ash. "It'll be relatively undefended," she said, finishing the other woman's thought. God, how agreeing with her stung.

"Precisely."

More and more she was coming to understand how Shepard could have fallen for Lawson. Well, past the nearly perfect exterior anyway. It wasn't easy to admit, but she _was _brilliant. There really was no denying that. She was intelligent, deadly, capable, beyond beautiful...

Of course, none of that was exactly comforting. Now, if only something could be done about her personality.

He'd chosen _her _though. He'd chosen Ashley in spite of all that. She needed to keep that in perspective.

"You think we'll be able to cover ground faster in that direction," Liara was saying, her usually even, serene voice sounding strained. Miranda nodded again. Williams again begrudgingly had to admit, it made sense. Just as the Commander was likely trying to use the mechs as a diversion they'd use the security droids _and _Shepard's presence to make their own way to the tower. As much as she wanted to get back to him so it could be her watching his back the mission _had _to come first. If the Commander couldn't make it to the Presidium Tower then it would be up to them. She'd just have to put her faith in Garrus and Wrex until then...until they were reunited.

Like that would make things any easier to swallow though.

"Right," the Alliance Officer across from her said, shouldering his Argus. "Sounds good to me. At the very least we can be another distraction ourselves if we're not going to be able to link up. Goto, you're on point. Let's try and stay out of the central chamber as much as possible. And remember, we're trying to avoid firefights here so let's try and get around any enemy units for now. Clear?"

"Please," the thief said, smiling as she shimmered and disappeared. "Remember who you're talking to."

* * *

><p>The road to the Presidium was slow going. Even with the security mechs waging a valiant, but ultimately fruitless battle far to their rear Shepard and his unit still had to be careful. One wrong move and Cerberus or the Reapers would know they weren't quite as contained as they were likely thought to be. If they did have to engage it had to be quick and decisive, preferably using Garrus or EDI to overload any units with the ability to communicate back with leadership elements first. Thus far they'd avoided Reaper units altogether. Under control through the Reaper signals meant that their ability to communicate was an unknown. For all Shepard knew merely being seen by a husk could be instantly relayed back to every other enemy unit in the area. That would certainly spoil their surprise attack and the mech's diversion <em>really <em>quickly.

At least Cerberus still seemed to seemed to rely on classic army communication tiers. Soldiers reporting to officers...in this case Centurions...and so on. Take out the more sophisticated comm suites of those units and you were generally going to be alright. Still, they reacted quickly once the firing began. Increasingly, they were also mixed in with Reaper units, a possible sign that the effects of indoctrination were taking further hold.

"Patrol incoming," Garrus said, quietly over the radio. "Forty meters out. Looks like a squad of Cannibals and a couple Ravagers. Recommend you find cover until they pass."

Shepard immediately held his fist up for the squad to hold before waving it side to side to signal them to disperse and seek shelter. He managed to drop over the nearest railing and into a lowered planter, pressing himself up against the smooth wall to remain hidden from view. The others were doing the same, spreading out and finding cover where they could to remain undetected. The Krogan generally found it a little more difficult than the rest.

By now they all knew to be patient and quiet. The first time he'd all but had to have Garrus put a round through one Krogan's eye when the giant alien seemed hell bent on engaging anything that moved. A quick and brutal conversation with Wrex seemed to have cowed him somewhat though. Of course, most species' conversations didn't involve bloodshed, but he wasn't about to criticize his old friend's means of motivation. Either way he hadn't tried to charge one of the enemies' roving patrols since.

Garrus was their guardian angel, trailing the assault team as he negotiated the roofs, maintenance catwalks, and machinery overhead all the while keeping an eye open for trouble. Already he'd spotted two Cerberus emplacements and three Reaper patrols. Archangel was back.

"Ten meters," he called out.

The hacking sound of a Cannibal could be heard soon, its guttural noises almost drowning out the skittering noise of the Ravager it was probably accompanying and the tiny insectoids that generally came along with the one-time Rachni.

"Shepard, hold position. Two meters and closing. Samara, you're clear. Ravager's have passed your location."

The skittering noise increased, sharp appendages clicking against the steel flooring as the patrol swept forward, still heedless of their enemy's proximity. Another ten seconds and they'd be clear, continuing on their way. Then the squad could move forward and get to...

Something...cloudy filtered into the Commander's consciousness. It swirled and shifted, ever at the edge of his periphery as the Reapers' creatures drew nearer, but never letting him concentrate on it or turn to find it. Shepard blinked and shook his head to try and clear the effect from his vision. He'd felt...this before, but it had been stronger then, more potent. This was something subtle, something unidentifiable, but something most definitely _there. _Like it was reaching out to find footholds on his brain...on his consciousness, but then receding before he could reach out and grab hold.

Shepard squeezed his eyes shut, flexing his hands as they felt the familiar textures and weight of the assault rifle in their grasp. Now was _not _the time to be distracted. He needed to be at his best and this fatigue or injury or...whatever it was could _not _be allowed to continue.

"Commander," Garrus radioed, clearing his vision and head instantly, "they're passing you. You'll be clear in a sec. Half a meter and...wait..._shit_. One of the little ones...the cockroach things is right above you. Its Ravager has come to a halt forward of your position, but it hasn't turned back."

The 'yet' that could have gone at the end of that particular sentence went unsaid, but hung threateningly over everything.

The Commander looked up to see the ends of a pair of long, thin antennas extend over the edge of the planter less than two feet above him, the sensitive apparatus twitching sporadically. Despite his helmet and breather he found himself holding his breath, waiting for the creature's head to come into view where it could actually see him. Once that happened, their stealth plan was essentially out the window. They'd be able to take care of this patrol with no problem, but that wasn't the point. They needed to remain undetected. If these things sounded the alarm then it would only be a matter of time before things got completely out of hand.

After a couple seconds of nothing further happening though he began to grow nervous about the walkway above him, shifting to get a better view of the still twitching antenna.

"Status?" he called softly, mindful that his helmet would block his voice from being overheard with the speaker off.

"Uh, no change," Garrus replied. "Most of the patrol's still proceeding on. No idea why this little guy is lingering, but I don't like it." A pause. "You _know _what happens if he sees you, right?"

"Yeah." The Commander nodded. The Turian was right. They needed to be prepared in case everything went up in smoke. "Okay," he finally whispered. "Garrus, if this goes south, you've got the Ravager."

"Acknowledged. Target acquired."

"And if this _does _happen I want it quick and clean. Let's try and prevent them from getting the word out and making things any worse for ourselves than they already are. Got it?"

The rest of the team quietly acknowledged the orders, readying to strike at a moment's notice from their unseen vantage points. Surprise would be total, that was almost a given with warriors the likes of those on his team. Everyone here save perhaps Jack's proteges were absolute surgeons at their profession.

Except maybe the Krogan. They were probably more like a freight train or mass accelerated orbital strike than a precision instrument. Then there was Jack. She was more a weapon of mass destruction than anything. _But_, they knew how to do their jobs and had Shepard's utter confidence.

No, it was the ever present threat of the unknown that worried him. Any slip-up, any round slightly off target and it could spell their doom in a situation like this. The fact that they could all wind up dead because of the actions of some giant curious cockroach did not elude him.

Shepard eased away from the wall the slightest bit to plant his feet and felt his amp begin to hum with power as he involuntarily began to biotically charge. It was a fight or flight response, his muscles tensing while his other systems readied for what they considered an inevitability. Even the eezo nodes took part, parting energy and linking with one another to maximize their efficiency so they'd be ready when the release of that energy was needed. It was a life saving reaction. One that had done exactly that on more than one occasion.

"If something doesn't happen soon we're gonna have to engage. We can't afford to just continue to sit here and be off-mission."

"Understood," Garrus replied, "but I advise you give it another minute. They still don't know you're there. Just another minute or two."

Garrus was the sniper. He was the one with the patience to sit by and wait for the right moment. Shepard had none of that. The tension of waiting was something he never enjoyed, before or during a fight. Granted, he realized the need for it. You couldn't win every fight with a gun or superior soldiers or tactics. No, sometimes in order to win you had to avoid the battle altogether. A war with the Reapers had taught that lesson all too well.

"Status of the rest of the patrol."

"To our rear. Twenty meters and growing. No joy on the other Ravager. I think..._Hold_," Garrus whispered suddenly from his sniper perch. "Movement. Second Ravager's turned. Several of its other little...bugs are heading away toward the rest of the patrol."

Above Shepard the antenna flicked one last time and then disappeared when the creature finally turned away.

"Last one's moving away. I think they're heading out."

The hum of biotics didn't diminish as it coursed down the Commander's spine and out along the spiderweb of interconnected tissues to the nodes themselves. He took a deep breath and tried to slow his pounding heartbeat down. So long as his adrenaline remained this high it'd probably continue until both bled off together.

Shepard let another shaky breath out, feeling the electric tingle on his skin begin to subside. He was lying to himself if he thought whatever _that _had been was fatigue. While it wasn't much, it was...familiar. He'd felt something similar in the ruins of London and when he thought he was speaking with some kind of holographic representation of the Catalyst.

"Grunt," Garrus announced over the squad channel, "you're clear. Enemy patrol to our rear, rearmost unit at a distance of fifteen meters and increasing. Recommend we move on out of the area at your discretion."

The Commander nodded, straightening his shoulders and taking a last deep breath before standing back up and leveling his weapon where a Reaper thrall had stood seconds earlier, scanning his immediate vicinity for anything that may have gone unseen. When nothing presented itself he scaled back up and over the steel handrail where Samara and Wrex were already emerging.

Both looked to him for direction.

"Garrus," he said, a headache firmly in place and throbbing behind his eyes, "get yourself to our twelve and push forward. I want an eye further out for us. Samara, you're on point. Take us out slowly."

* * *

><p>"Have I mentioned that I <em>really <em>don't think I'm getting paid enough for this."

"Dude, you're gettin' fucking paid?"

Shepard shot Jack a warning look and went back to looking down his rifle's scope. "Garrus."

"Right. Sorry. Well, the good news is I don't think it's _all _the Reaper ground troops in the galaxy. The bad news...I think it's probably pretty close. Shepard, we're _way _outmatched here."

The plaza at the base of the Presidium Tower was a wide, open expanse known across the galaxy for its opulence. Richly planted with rare fruit and flowering trees and featuring elegant sweeping curves and expensive materials it was a crown jewel of the Citadel. Fountains cascaded down its multiple levels, cutting intricate weirs and patterns in the floor and walls. Above it, through a giant viewport in the cavernous space you could see the smooth spire stretching out toward the center of the Presidium ring. Usually the brilliant pinks of the nebula were also on display. Now it was just the closed Wards and the death and destruction being perpetrated within them.

The entire area was also absolutely awash in a mix of Reaper units.

"Give me the rundown," Shepard asked, still taking in what he could see from his position at the plaza's periphery.

"I'm showing barrier generators and Ravagers on the higher levels of the plaza. They'll be trouble with that kind of protection and putting concentrated fire down on any approach. Skirmish line of Brutes out in front at the base of the stairs. Let's say sixteen to be safe intermingled with more conventional units. A _lot _of conventional units. Plenty of other firepower to go around outside that though too. I'm counting Cerberus sniper units up high and a quick reaction force of Banshees. Put them at eight. Only good news I see is a lack of husks. Other than the Brutes and Banshees they don't have anything that'll want to get in close."

From beside Shepard, Jack snorted.

"Yeah," Garrus said, "I'll admit it wasn't _much _as far as silver linings go."

The Commander ignored the attempt at levity, holding his own rifle up to scan the enemy formations below them again. He didn't have the level of detail that Garrus' sniper rifle did, but it could still help him better scout the terrain and fortifications. He wasn't about to rely completely on anyone else's observations. Even if they were Garrus'. There was never an equivalent for first hand intelligence.

Unfortunately things really were as bad as his friend had reported. That was a _lot _to overcome. The Banshees alone could be a larger problem than perhaps anyone realized. True, they were already one of the Reapers' heaviest hitters, but the effect of the depressurization was an unknown for them. They _knew_ the former Ardat Yakshi's utilized mass effect fields to float over the battlefield as they did. It was a byproduct of their warped, but powerful biotic abilities. The question though was whether those fields could withstand the kinds of forces his group were planning on putting on them. If they _could_then Shepard would have eight really pissed off, really powerful enemies to deal with.

A low mumble in his ear had him looking to his right, but finding nothing. His eyes continued to search as the noise appeared again, slowly becoming a groan emanating from both nowhere and everywhere all at once, reverberating deep in his ears. When he turned back to look forward the haze was back too, cloudy black tendrils pulling at the periphery of his vision and seeming to twist and contort the world he was seeing in subtle ways. Low, indistinct words began finally, speaking in a dialect Shepard had never heard before and couldn't understand. It continued, seeming to originate from within his own head as the blackness swirled and curled in front of him, growing slowly before receding and beginning again.

He wanted to rub his eyes. As though that would remove the apparition. Of course it was impossible with the helmet in place so he had to settle instead for shutting them again, trying to shut out the voice and tendrils as he focused on his friends...on his mission...on Ash. He could practically feel it now, worming its way around inside his head, trying to claw and find purchase. The Commander grit his teeth, fighting the creeping force as it continued to gradually recede into the recesses of his mind.

When he opened his eyes again the blackness was gone, the whispers dying off into the background noise as the familiar sight of the Presidium filled his view.

The knot of dread he'd beaten down back in London was back, digging into the pit of his stomach. This wasn't the way this was supposed to go. Wasn't the way _he _was supposed to go.

Either way, something had to be done. There was no way to deny that any longer. Wishing it away and closing his eyes wasn't guaranteed to always work and he could do far too much damage if he was to actually succumb. He couldn't just keep this to himself any longer, not when it could endanger his friends and allies. Not when it could potentially threaten the entire war effort and the lives of billions.

Shepard immediately thumbed the comm controls over to his friend's private channel. Long ago, when they'd been working for Cerberus and didn't know who they could trust or who was listening in he and Garrus had established their own, private frequency. It was a practice that had persisted ever since, though one that had gone more and more unused as the link to Cerberus had eroded away and disappeared.

"Garrus."

Judging by the pause on the other end of the line the Turian was caught a little off guard by the sudden change of frequencies.

"What's up," he finally asked. There was no humor or attempts at levity, not like there'd normally be. He knew if his friend was using _this _channel something serious was afoot.

"Listen, I'm gonna need you to..." Shepard sighed and glanced up in the general area where he knew his friend was positioned. "I need you...watching me. Carefully. There's something going on here and I can't have us fail because I'm compromised. This is way too important."

"What?" came the Turian's confused reply. "Compromised? Shepard, you mind explaining that one a bit?"

The Commander shook his head. "It's hard to explain. It's like...my mind is playing tricks on me. There's stuff in my peripheral vision, stuff that's not there. And...whispers. Garrus, I'm...I'm hearing things. Faint things, but they're there."

Shepard braced himself for the next part. He hadn't even dreamed of saying the word before now. Had hoped and prayed everything could be explained away by some other means. He had to face facts though. There really wasn't much left at this point and the mission had to come above his faith in his own mental fortitude and strength and ability to handle this on his own.

"I think it _might_be indoctrination," Shepard finally admitted. The intake of breath on the other end was about what he'd expected. "From what we saw back on the derelict Reaper and what I encountered with Kenson and her project team it seems to match the symptoms. I'm fighting it, but I think it's getting stronger. Garrus, we can't allow this to take me."

Garrus was quiet for a second, taking things in. "Is this the first time?" he finally asked, his voice calm and deadly serious. "With the visions I mean. All that stuff. How long's this been going on."

"No, not the first time," the Commander admitted. "I think I was fighting it in London too. After Harbinger's arrival...during that final push I had some kind of massive...hallucination. It was just so damn real. I don't know what I did or didn't do in the end, but I managed to break through somehow. I heard Ash calling and woke out of it. Hadn't felt it again since then...until we started getting back into close proximity with Reaper units. Until now I didn't know it might still be a factor."

"And do you think you're compromised?"

Shepard pursed his lips and stared out over the horde of creatures below them. He still had every intention of killing every last one of them. Still had the burning hatred and resolve to wipe the Reapers from the face of the galaxy. Mordin's smiling face flashed through his mind. Then Legion's solitary, emotionless ocular light. That was _him. _At least for now he was still _him._

"No," he said. "I'm still here. I'm not gone yet."

"Alright then. Good enough for me."

"Garrus..."

"Listen, if it comes to _that_ you've got nothing to worry about cause I won't let it happen." He didn't need to explain what exactly that would mean, but it was a far better alternative than becoming one of those...things. "_But_," the Turian continued, "how about we just finish this up and go home instead? Sound good? Make this whole conversation a mute point."

His friend's confidence made him smile a little. He put his eye back to his own rifle's scope, scanning the writhing mass below and picturing the alien doing the same nearby through his own sniper rifle.

"One of us finishes this," he said. "Got it? Garrus, no matter what, one of us sees this through. We do _not _let them win."

"Deal."

Thumbing back the tactical radio to the squad channel Shepard took a moment, breathing deeply and sweeping his view across the tiered plaza twice more. It still looked pretty dire, but somehow things felt just a little more...possible.

"Okay, we're gonna have to hope that a lack of gravity and a little explosive decompression thins them out a bit or it sounds like this is gonna be over _real _quick," Shepard finally said, pulling back from his scope and speaking to the entirety of his assault force.

"Roger that."

"EDI?" The chrome head of the artificial intelligence swung around to look at him blankly from several yards away. "Status on that?"

"I can initiate emergency venting within fifteen seconds of the command being given. Explosive depressurization will commence immediately. However, while I _have_ overridden safety protocols in order for this to work, the pressure doors and artificial gravity systems _will _eventually recycle and reactivate. I cannot keep them open indefinitely."

The Commander shut his eyes in annoyance. He heard Jack growl something under her breath as well but ignored her. Because of _course _it wasn't about to be easy on them. Just _once _he'd like something to be simple. Simple was good. Simple would mean more people came back alive.

Shepard sighed and blew out a breath. "How long do we have?"

"Four minutes and fifty seconds until full systems restart."

"Okay. Well, that'll have to be enough then," Shepard said. "EDI, when the clock reaches four minutes I want you to give me a countdown. Call out five second intervals. At twenty I want everyone beginning to disengage and prepare for a retreat if we haven't made enough of a push. Rally point is this position. Agreed?"

He got a chorus of assorted grunts and noises of acceptance from the motley group of warriors.

The Commander sighed and thumbed his comms again. "Garrus, get back down here with us. Find a good vantage point, but I need you with the group once we start pushing forward."

"Roger," came the Turian's response. "On my way back."

"Same general template as before. Wrex, you've got the front line. Once we get moving keep pushing forward, but don't get away from us. Me and EDI will back you up. Biotics, divide up and take the flanks. Concentrate on supporting the main push, but you've got anything that tries to get around us. Primary targets are any Banshees and Brutes that survive the vent. Then work back to the Ravagers. Garrus, you've got anything that seems pretty nailed down when it all goes zero gravity. Concentrate on whatever isn't floating. Once gravity is reestablished, any remaining sniper units are yours."

A few seconds later the blue armored alien dropped into a prone position nearby, settling his Mantis on a stone to steady his aim and nodding to Shepard. Sending a silent nod of support back the Commander shifted, waving the rest of his team into position as he and EDI followed the massive Krogan down the rear of a crumbling restaurant once frequented by the galaxy's politicians. Most of its furniture was destroyed and little more than rubble. The doors and windows looking out on the wide plaza were blown out as well, their remnants littering the upturned tables outside. Silently...or as silently as two ton reptiles can manage...the Commander's team took cover behind the building's facade.

Across a passageway he could see Samara and one of Jack's pupils taking shelter in another shattered structure, the elegant Asari looking awkward in a full zero-grav battle suit with her face obscured by the mirrored viewport of her helmet.

Somewhere to their right Jack was probably looking equally out of place with none of her skin or trademark tattoos on display. It was a far, far different look than when they'd broken her out of that prison ship so long ago. One that wouldn't have been possible back then.

"Helmets on and pressurized," he commanded, checking the seal on his own visor and collar. Both registered positive. "And I want mag boots online as soon as I give EDI the word."

Shepard took one last look at the layout of his companions next to him before going over the battle plan in his mind. It was as good as he could do in the time he had. Daring, but solid. From here on out it was all up to the vent, his units' own skills and ability to work as a team and, hopefully, more than a little luck. Presently he checked his Vindicator before turning and nodding at the synthetic.

"Vent is a go. Commence sequence."

Her omni-tool lit up instantly as she began scrolling through command prompts far faster than a human ever could. It was almost dizzying the way her fingers danced over the holographic interface. "Emergency protocols canceled," she said, nodding back at him. "Depressurization commencing."

"Alright people, look sharp. Fifteen seconds."

* * *

><p>Despite the lights being on, the plant life still looking relatively intact and pristine, and at least portions of the artificial sky still powered the Presidium was decidedly creepy. There'd been a fight here, cratered and bullet riddled building facades and vehicles lining the promenade the group was moving down. But there was a conspicuous absence of bodies. As in none. Somehow that was beyond disturbing. The complete absence of sentient life in a place that was normally bustling with activity.<p>

Williams was following Mavia, the remaining Asari Commando, by about ten yards, her Avenger covering a portion of the group's right flank as they walked briskly through the ruins.

"Whoa." Behind Ash Tali stopped short suddenly, dropping her shotgun to her side from where it'd been scanning the empty, cratered cafe the spread out group had been passing. In a hostile environment like this when someone says something alarming like that you generally seek cover. Williams ended up behind a burnt out loader, scanning her quadrant for any kind of movement before glancing back at the Quarian. When she didn't move after a few seconds, still standing silently out in the open, Ashley risked it and darted out to her, keeping her Avenger high and trained on a second story balcony higher up the neighboring building.

"Tali?" she asked, sidling up next to her, but never diverting her attention from the surrounding buildings. There were just too many vantage points for her to drop her guard completely despite the fact that they hadn't encountered anything of note in nearly half an hour. When the Quarian still didn't react Ash nudged her with her shoulder. "Tali? Hey. Got something you wanna share with the rest of the class?"

The helmeted head finally turned, the luminescent eyes blinking rapidly as she focused on the Lieutenant Commander. "_Oh. _Yeah...uh...sorry," she managed, still sounding distracted. By now the Major had broken position as well to see what the disturbance was, jogging up to the two females. "We may have a problem. A big one. I'm just trying to..."

"Short version," the Major interjected, shooting a nervous look at the eerily empty buildings.

"Oh...right. Umm...so, I think the Citadel's losing atmosphere."

Both Ashley and Vasquez just stared at her. After a lengthy pause Ashley managed to simply ask, "What?"

Tali's omni-tool flickered to life as she typed away, her shotgun wedged under an arm. "My suit measures outside environmental conditions so that it can react to unexpected changes in pressure, temperature, gravitational forces, and so on. It was subtle," she explained, "but there was a measurable decrease in the gaseous makeup of the Presidium's atmosphere along with a corresponding drop in pressure a couple seconds ago."

The Major frowned, breathing deep as if testing the air. "Well, if it's tiny then why should it matter."

"Because that could mean a hull breach," Miranda interjected. Ashley made a face, not caring if the brunette noticed. When she'd made it to the impromptu meeting she didn't know, but damn if the woman didn't seem to be everywhere. It was really annoying. Tali nodded at her explanation though.

"But there's safeguards in place, right?" Williams asked. "Pressure doors and automatic shutters and stuff to prevent that. Every space faring vessel has them."

"And if they'd engaged then the drop I noticed would have immediately returned to baseline levels as the generators and scrubbers made up for it. But they didn't. That's not good. It means something bigger is happening."

"Like what?"

"I...I don't know."

"Alright." The Major turned and waved at the lone Geth platform that had managed to be included on the hastily assembled assault team, motioning for it to come over. "Perimeter up," he whispered into his comm at the same time. "We're working on something here."

Ashley still couldn't shake the uneasiness working with a Geth brought up in her. After Eden Prime she'd never have thought this possible. Never have believed that she'd be standing here next to one...one that talked no less...and discussing strategy rather than blowing its damn head off. Yet another thing that the Commander had done that was a miracle. Somehow the man made those seem almost commonplace.

"You heard?" the close cropped, career military man asked the sentient machine. It nodded once, giving away nothing. "And what's your analysis?"

"Creater Zorah is correct," it began. "Nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels have dropped by one point two percent. Atmospheric pressure is down a similar amount though there has been no additional change in the past several seconds.

"Suppositions?"

Its head flaps flexed into an expression mimicking something akin to thoughtfulness. "Insufficient data," it finally said. "The reason for the change is unknown. _Warning._" Its central eye irised open, the light flashing brighter for a second as the head flaps opened in surprise. "Gravity has dropped a quarter of a Newton within the Presidium."

"Gravity?" Tali asked aloud. Both Ash and the Major looked around curiously as though they were expecting to see furniture beginning to float nearby.

"_Helmets! Now!_" Miranda suddenly screamed next to Tali, staring at her omni-tool. Then she was scrambling for her pressurized battle helmet.

Williams knew enough not to stop and question someone when they were that frantic. Hastily she pulled her own from her lower back, clicking the pieces into place and settling it over her head. The seals were automatic, two green lights activating almost instantly as the pressure equalized and she achieved a positive seal with her suit. She turned to see the Major already in his as well with Liara snapping hers into position from across the promenade.

Williams turned to the other woman once she saw most of the other soldiers were set. Tali and the Geth platform hadn't so much as moved. "So, what the hell was..."

"C-Sec's opening the docking bay doors and shutting off the force fields with the safeguards disabled," she said, holding up her arm with the omni-tool still showing the C-Sec servers. "There wasn't any reason to check those systems before, but given the loss...well, it's happening."

"Keelah..." Tali whispered.

Vasquez darted over to Miranda to stare at the holographic display alongside the helmeted brunette. "Can we access the traffic control systems from here? Shut down the doors remotely?"

She shook her head. "I don't think you understand...it's _all _of them. Every last one. They're venting the entire Commons to space. We simply don't have time to try and access that many."

He just stared at her for a moment, his eyes hidden behind the polarized lens of his tactical helmet. Then he spun around. "Gravity boots. _Now._" Vasquez ordered the assault team before turning back to the small group.

Ash felt the thump of her own armored boots magnetize and achieve positive traction as another indicator light bloomed on her heads up display.

Now _that _sounded like Shepard. Blast as many of the Reaper bastards as possible out of the station entirely in one fell swoop. It made her smile. Only her Commander would dream up something that bordered on sheet lunacy yet was still tactically brilliant.

Equally as sobering was the realization that only having a Quarian along for the ride had saved them all a very similar fate as that of their enemies. Hell, they probably wouldn't have even made it out of the station before they'd either been suffocated or pulverized by all the flying debris.

"Cover," Vasquez was saying, one hand to his ear as the other was motioning the squad into a still relatively intact bank building.

The Turian Spectre was the closest, striding forward and kicking the partially broken door open where Mavia, the Asari Commando darted inside, her Disciple raised and scanning. Liara and the Turian filed in close behind, their weapons leveling out as they cleared the doorway.

"Everyone inside and outta the open," the Major continued.

Williams started when he laid a hand on her shoulder, looking back at his blank face plate. She'd remained where she was, unmoving and staring off in the direction they'd been headed. In the direction of the Presidium Tower. Already a wind was whipping up, something that was unheard of on the lower levels of the space station without the usual aircar traffic disturbing the generally still air. The echoing groans she could begin to hear promised more to come.

"We'll take cover," he told her, "and make a run for the Tower once the venting is complete. Okay?" Ash glanced up at him. "This is _not _over, but we need to get inside and off the street."

With one last glance in the direction where the massive ring curved up and out of sight she nodded and followed him across the small entry courtyard and into the bank.

All hell broke loose less than half a minute later.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Not necessarily action packed, but I think it's pretty obvious that the next one will be. Had to kind of link the groups somewhat and develop the story a bit. Can't just be one crazy gunbattle after the next. That's just bad pacing. Anyway...hope you enjoyed. _


End file.
